Wasteland
by Covin
Summary: A short novel. Alex and the crew are thrust into a battle that has nothing to do with the present, but everything to do with the future...
1. The Remnant's Project

Wastelands…

Wastelands…

****

Prologue

As relations with other countries began to fall, the United States' economy also began to collapse…bringing with it the shortage of jobs, hospitals, police and other various important needs of the population…

It all began with President Malcolm's misunderstood statement in 2006…in which China thought was a threat. And then, in 2007, Japan left the United Nations for no known reason… Russia's military was suddenly in the numbers of the hundred millions, spotted by the US satellite _Striker_ in late 2007, and throughout the years, assassinations had risen to an all time high all over the world… The United States slowly crumbled under the leadership of a new democratic president…

In a matter of years the United States, Canada, and many European nations began to fall. Slowly, as their economy dropped each day…

And then it all happened. 

It happened in a matter of minutes…

The conquest of the Middle East, the _nuclear war_ that destroyed not only all of Europe, it wiped out North America and more than half of Africa……

The radiation polluting the survivors' bodies to where they were ultimately strong and intelligent… The countries that weren't destroyed suddenly became plagued with a radiational disease theoretically caused by the nuclear weapons…

It took more than 50 for the radiation from the nuclear weapons to finally die out…and during that time, all the strongest militaries in the world rushed to the remains of North America, satellites revealing that there were thousands of small islands, most the size of Manhattan or a large metropolis…

The flocking to the wastelands caused a hesitant war between the five main countries…Russia, with its newly rebuilt Soviet Union, China with it's protonic-military, Japan with it's new naval warfare secrets, a fourth, unknown organization… It's country unknown, it's technology never seen before, and it's soldiers more overpowering than the four main countries put together… And the last country is the Remnants. The last of the U.S. that were in other countries had united in Hawaii and New Guinea…

Thus began the War of the Wastelands. 

Part 1: The Past

****

Chapter 1

The Remnant's Project

"Listen, I don't have the time frames ready for it…Connor, **listen**to me!"

Lieutenant Connor paid no attention to her. As he walked the underground tunnels and hallways, trying to make his way to the under-harbor. Delia was following him, trying to get him to listen to a bunch of scientific things that would take him years to understand. 

Seeing that she wasn't having any success with him, she stepped in front of him, putting her hands on his chest and telling him firmly, "**Stop**."

Having respect for women, Lt. Connor stopped and replied, "Only for a moment. I don't have much time."

"The time frame isn't ready. I found a glitch last night. If we send them there, they can't come back without the device and if they can't come back then what's the point of sending them…?" Delia was visibly desperate, a sweat bead streaming down the side of her face.

Connor had to somehow say it lightly…, "Delia, I'm sorry but…I'm not in charge. You told the General that things were ready and the General won't take anything else now. It's not your fault, it's not my fault, it's now **his** fault if they die. Such is life." Connor, knowing that he was wrong, looked into Delia's gentle brown eyes. "I can't do anything…I'm sorry." With that he walked around her and continued making his way to the under-harbor. 

"It's no longer in my hands, Connor. It's your fault if you don't tell him," she called as he rounded a corner. Heaving a big sigh, Delia looked down at the floor. They wouldn't be able to come back…they would be committing suicide…

The Time Frame Project (TFP) was started over a year ago. Delia, put on the project because her father, the leader of it, wanted her to be on it, started a few weeks after it began. The TFP was made in hope that the Remnant's could send a group of two people back in time to prevent the nuclear war from happening. No one even knew who fired first or why but they at least had to try…

About a month ago, a device was finally configured and they constructed it…and they were now planning on using it to send people to the past to find anyway to stop the war from coming… They were to use whatever means necessary to stop it…even if it meant destroying **one** country with a nuke…

Whatever means necessary…

Delia turned and started to walk back to her quarters. Her father had died six months ago; some thought it was the stress of the TFP project and others thought it was from getting old…Delia thought it was both. As she walked down the hallway, she suddenly remembered something…

_We don't have any volunteers for the TFP project…we still don't…_ No one had wanted to try it because they didn't know what was going to happen. They might be slowly ripped apart, they might die, they might go back to a place where one of the nukes hit, they might go into the future, they might…all sorts of crazy things were circulating around the Remnant's base. 

The base she was on was 86, the military-enforced scientific community. This base had some of the strongest Remnant's soldiers there were and some of the smartest minds in the world. Bummer that the base was mostly underground. 

Connor had been transferred here a few weeks ago, to recover from a proton wound in a war over the island '2T89'. The battle had been won but both sides had heavy casualties. China had lost over eight hundred men and the Remnant's lost half the island to fires and about five hundred men…

Why is everybody so violent about controlling islands in a radiational, lethal environment? Because the radiation in the air could be manufactured into the world's strongest energy source. 

Once that was discovered, the countries came and took over the wastelands, developing suits and armor so people could go outside…but eventually, the wars began and everyone started fighting for the islands…

Every country had limited forces so the strategies involved were complicated and the value of human life in the military became much more important. 

Connor had taken a proton wound from a Japanese soldier that he thought was dead as he walked by him. The Chinese man could've finished him off but due to the gun already being damaged, it exploded, killing him and blowing Connor away. 

Connor had survived and thanks to technology at this base, Delia thought, he was completely healed in a few days. They decided to transfer him here, to serve the General of 86 and basically be his messenger until there was another war over an island. 

Delia was average height, about 5'6", her dark hair and soft skin creating a quite beautiful teenager. She was nineteen years old, soon to be twenty…

She reached her quarters and sighed, opening the door and stepping inside a small room. Living quarters weren't that great because of how small island 86 was. There was a bathroom to the left, a kitchen built along the wall on one side of the room and the rest of the room was pretty much barren. There was a nice, queen size bed in one corner, a sofa in another corner, and chairs nicely placed throughout the room…it wasn't very nice but it was home to her.

She walked over to the bed, looked at her watch and thought _no…the day is over…just…let them deal with it if they want to…_ She lied down on the bed and sleep quickly, quietly came to her…

§

BANG BANG BANG!

Delia awoke to someone banging on her door. 

"Delia Redden, please come out immediately," called a low voice from outside the door. 

Delia slowly got up, muttering about it being four in the morning. She whipped the door open, her frizzled hair and heavy eyes glaring at the officer. 

"Ma'am, I'm sorry to disturb you but I was told to inform you that at noon today, that's about eight-and-a-half hours, you are to report to the TFP room."

"Why?"

"You've been volunteered along with Connor O'Hail and Dare Blaine to be the subjects in the TFP project, which will begin today at noon. You will be briefed at noon, and after the briefing, they plan on sending you back in time, ma'am."

**"WHAT?!"**

§

A few hours later, Delia awoke from a restless sleep, unable to comprehend the fact that the day she was in was the last day of her life. She had found a glitch in the Time Frame but because of Connor, the twenty-two year old bum from war wouldn't do what he knew he should do, he, Delia, and Dare would die today…_ At least I know when I'm going to die…_

She started to wonder what it would be like…_will I see a light? Will there be angels? Or will there be…**nothing**…?_ The thought gave her shivers. 

She got up, took a nice warm shower and slowly prepared herself for the day ahead. _Why me? Why did they choose me? Why do I have to do some stupid experiment that I know won't go right? It doesn't make sense._

She got out of the shower, fixing her hair and doing what she did every morning.

She planned on having a talk with the General, just to make sure that what she had been told at four A.M. this morning was true…it couldn't be…and yet it seemed to make sense.

_You've been wanting adventure for a long time…here's your chance_, she told herself. _Hopefully it'll work right and it won't kill us…hopefully…_

She left her quarters, wearing a black trench coat, nice blue plants and a white shirt underneath the trench coat. It was her favorite outfit… As she walked down the halls, she noticed that everyone was congratulating her on her 'volunteering' for the TFP project…_I'm a scientist, not a time traveler…I help time travel get possible, not do it myself…_

It was insane. Why her? Why? _Because you're the father of the project's daughter_, something seemed to say to her. _Yeah, just my luck_. 

_They're just picking on me…_, she decided, making her way to the General's quarters. It was eight in the morning and that was time for the General to face the day…Delia reached his door and banged on it. "General, open up! We need to talk!" A weary-eyed, gray-haired face opened the door and said, "Good morning Delia…" He was obviously not happy that she was there…her being there meant trouble, especially considering the fact that he had said that she had volunteered.

§

Delia saw the swarms of green light begin to circle around her. She squeezed Connor's hand and closed her eyes as the lights seemed to get faster and faster. _Don't let me die, don't let me die, don't let me die, don't let me die…_ She didn't know who she was thinking that too but she hoped somebody would get it…

Suddenly she felt a tug on her leg. She looked down and saw that she was sinking into the metal floor…no…sinking through it like quicksand…_oh no! The TFP went wrong! I'm gonna die!_

Connor's thoughts were too different. _I hope that's normal because if it's not, we're gonna be in a world of pain…_ He felt Delia's already death grip on his arm get tighter. _Heck, don't let _her_kill me._

Something was going wrong with Dare. He had a metal plate in his leg and it was beginning to twist inside his leg. He cried out in pain but couldn't feel anything but it…his eyes were blinking in and out of dizziness… Suddenly the metal plate reached the floor and, as if there was a magnet, the plate in his leg shot out across the room, toward scientists that were watching from a distance. Dare screamed in pain but the next thing he knew, the bones in his body following the same path as the metal plate and…he screamed again, just before his vertebrae was ripped out…

The waves of blue light that were swirling around her suddenly began to slow down and quite suddenly, Delia wasn't there anymore…she was in a pitch black place, the only color was the blue swirls going around her. The science had said that something like that might happen, that hallucinations were bound to occur… She held tightly to Connor's hand and then she realized that he was there with her, as amazed as she was.

She—

VWOOM!

And like a vacuum they were suddenly sucked into a world that came from below them and the next thing they knew, there was light, sunlight…

Delia opened her eyes and saw somebody flying in front of the sun, with large wheeled-shoes on his/her feet, above her…and then she fainted…

The next thing Connor knew, he was in a stadium, people cheering from all directions, the hot sun filtering down on them and a person wearing padding, flying through the air, with strange things attached to his feet, was above him…

Connor rolled to his right and then…everything seemed to fade…going black…he tried to fight it but…

****

Author's Note

Yeah, it was slow…yeah it was weird…and yeah, A-Man wasn't in it…but hey, and have a little faith in me, eh? Don't worry, this story will be my best epic yet, and Action Man's biggest fight (actually war but…) **_ever_**. So please, spare me from flames and just say something helpful or if you find a lot of flaws, go ahead and say them, but in a nice way. Don't kill me because this fic will be AWESOME by the time the next couple chapters hit. 


	2. Amnesia

Wasteland… ****

A/N: There are spoilers to my fic 'Asazi' in this story. In this chapter, up to chapter 26 (which hardly anyone has read); just so you know.

Wastelands…

****

Chapter 2

Amnesia

The sudden flash of light below him startled the famed Alex Mann for a split second but after he recovered, he saw an unconscious body covered by his shadow below, his body hurtling toward it. 

"What the—," he didn't have to time to finish as chose a quick solution. Swinging his legs up and over his head and then whipping them back around, he caused himself to gain more momentum in midair and fly over the body that had appeared from no where. He had flung himself away. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, a crew moving out to the skateboard arena, obviously to take away the two bodies. 

The crowd cheered loud and hard, thinking that it was part of the show. Action Man was just wondering what had happened. He realized that he was slowing down and had to keep the crowd cheering. He gained speed, skating towards a loop in the arena. He knew that he had to top off the save he had just made if he wanted the crowd to continue the cheering. Just before he hit the loop, he hit a button on his left arm, which activated small rockets on his skates. 

With a huge burst of speed, Action Man sped forward, hit the loop, and popped out the other side to find a ramp a few feet in front of him. _Uh oh! Don't remember that!_ Action Man hit the ramp and flew a good forty feet into the air. His legs flinging himself into a flip, he tried to quickly figure out how he was going to land without crashing. He saw another ramp, approaching him fast. He calculated for a second and then gave the rocket-skates a quick two-second boost, which propelled his legs out in front of him, causing him to land parallel with the top of the ramp. 

He skated down the ramp, went up another to wrap up the day and took off his helmet, waving to the crowds. The clapping, screams, cheers, and camera flashes didn't seem to end for quite a while…

§ _That night…_

Alex sighed as he finished the magazine, gently throwing it onto a counter across the room. He was tired, sore, and still pondering how that guy came from nowhere and appeared right below him, and who he was. He had watched the sports news but nothing came, just the success of the day. It seemed that the media thought it was all part of the show too. _Grinder was right about putting the skate-rocket stunt on today instead of next week. _

Alex took a sip of ice-cold water from a small bottle on a nearby shelf and swallowed it slowly, feeling the chill go down his throat and into his stomach. He was alone for the night; he had another stunt performance scheduled tomorrow and the rest of Team X-treme was out at a promotion at the moment. Fidget was selling her second tape of the A-Man series, Ricky was promoting the new soft drink that was sponsoring the team and Grinder was there to promote the company that made Big-Air. 

Alex wasn't scheduled to be there so he said no at making a surprise visit. 

Way too tired.

He got up, walked through a couple rooms and stepped outside into the brisk, night air. His watch read a digital 9:48. He glanced up at the moon, his breath visible as he silently thought about how 'schedulized' his life seemed to be getting. 

__

Everyday, a performance, a promotion, little sleep, fast food because we're always late, same people, same MasterDome, same Big-Air, same thing, over and over and over again… He sighed and quit griping. He remembered what an old buddy in school used to say. "Just be thankful for what you have…you never know what another child is suffering from right now…" 

Asazi said that. Back in school. Alex remembered a huge crush he used to have on her, smiling about it. _If only I'd a known what she was going to become…and how _**we** _would become…_ Alex grimaced at the sudden memory of it, followed by many more of what happened not more than three months ago… The pain and guilt that he felt hadn't ceased, and he only wished he could've gone back to stop it…to stop himself from losing his temper…

Alex shook his head and tried to control his emotions. _What happened, happened. Nothing can change it, there is no second chance…at least X is gone…_ It hadn't happened the way it should have. Nothing did except for one thing; X wasn't to return. Ever.

§ _The next morning…_

MNMNNMMNMNNMMN.

The groan came from Fidget as her alarm clock suddenly blurted to life, disturbing her secret and quite passionate dreams of Grinder… She sat up, the alarm still screaming at her. She blinked a couple times, smacked her lips…and whirled her fist at the alarm with a yell of anger. The alarm didn't take it too well; it's little electronic chips clamored out, broken to bits. 

And all was quiet.

Then it hit Fidget; _I was dreaming about Grinder?! YUCK!_

§

Grinder awoke to Fidget's sudden yell and smiled, glancing at his timekeeper. He didn't even set one anymore; Fidget was better than one because she shut herself up after a couple seconds. Grinder reluctantly pulled himself out of bed and sleepily returned back to his typical daily routines. Later, something that day, Fidget would come to him with her broken clock and ask if he would fix it…he would, just the heck of it. 

Ricky awoke to Grinder's getting up (they shared a room on Big-Air) and groaned in disbelief. "It is already the morning of the fourteenth and…," he unintelligibly muttered, still half-asleep. "Good morning Ricky," Grinder said as he walked out of the room and into the conference room. He saw the coffeepot almost done making a new pot of coffee; Grinder had set it to automatically do it the night before. 

He poured himself a cup of coffee and started to actually wake up. Ricky came in a few seconds later, rubbing his eyes and his feet dragging a tightly wrapped blanket around his leg. Grinder almost laughed but he knew he had to say it before Fidget would come in. "Ricky, I know you're tired and all, but don't you think you might want to get out of those pajamas before anyone else comes in."

His pajamas were almost rags; they had holes everywhere and the shirt was missing the whole left sleeve. "Oh, yeah…I guess…" He blinked, trying to widen his eyes… Grinder frowned. Ricky tried to widen his eyes again and Grinder saw that Ricky's pupils were dilated. Grinder's eyebrows shot up and he said, "Ricky, you feeling okay this morning?"

"Not particularly," he replied as he stumbled back into the room to change. 

Grinder took that in for a second and then thought, _perhaps he should take the day off._ "Hey Ricky," he called. 

"Yeah," Ricky replied, his voice a little muffled by the now-closed door. 

"I think you should take a day off, mate. You aren't looking too good. I think you're a little sick or something." Grinder took another sip of his gently steaming coffee.

"I feel like all our sponsors told us they were quitting," Ricky replied.

Grinder almost dropped his coffee. Ricky must definitely be feeling bad. 

"WHERE THE—OW!" Fidget's voice suddenly filled Big-Air and Fidget's door whirled open, revealing Fidget clutching a bleeding hand. Blood dripped onto the floor and Grinder immediately gave her assistance…or tried to. "Whoa, Fidg, I'll go get you some stuff. Put—''

"I know how to take care of a little cut, Grinder," Fidget unhappily replied, still not being able to get over the fact that she had been dreaming of him the night before. _And someone said that you could control your dreams; I'm now completely sure._

Grinder returned with a small first aid kit and Fidget took her other hand away from the wound…she had greatly misjudged the size of her wound. It wasn't a 'little cut'. It was a gash that started at the top of the ring finger and stretched all the way down to the base of the palm. 

_How did I not notice this until I saw it,_ Fidget thought. She hadn't even felt it until she saw the blood streaming down her arm. _One of those stupid things about this miserable life_, she concluded.

The morning slowly continued, Alex getting up last. The day seemed to slowly drag on until Grinder took Big-Air into the skies, flying toward the MasterDome. The next-to-last day of Action Week. Seven days of insanely suicidal stunts and events that would all lead up to the last day. 

It was decided that Fidget wrap up her hand and arm, and even though she complained, she knew it was the right thing to do… The day dragged on, even while Alex was performing. Nothing exciting, just a few skateboard stunts, plus whatever else was on the schedule that made MasterVision profit… 

…

§

The midnight blue helicopter landed on the hospital's helicopter pad, INTERCEPT painted across one side of the helicopter. Two men in black suits stepped out after the blades had stopped their whirling, and then a woman stepped out. She glanced up at the tall, twenty-story hospital. The large white building seemed to stand out, even if it were in the middle of a bunch of buildings its height. _I guess that's just the way hospitals are_, she thought. 

Diana was a highly successful agent of INTERCEPT, well known and popular among her partners. She wasn't the person that she was when she was around the famed Action Man. Then she was just doing her job, showing affections for him but she didn't think she'd ever become 'popular' with him like she was with most of her partners. 

A few people in the INTERCEPT bureau thought she was a…well, thought she was a slut but really, she wasn't; at least, that's what she thought. Diana usually just laughed when people talked like that about her. She wasn't because you gotta understand life; you have to fun while you're on the job sometimes. Some people laugh and say things like "your partners **always** request their next assignment to be with you, even if it's their first one". Yeah, it was true. But that was because she'd been working for over ten years for INTERCEPT. Ever since she was seventeen. She only started sleeping with her partners in the tenth year of her career. Had to spice up the missions in some way.

She eyed the buff, strong man that flanked her left side. Diana smiled as she walked his muscular shoulders move with each relaxed step. _Geez, an assassin could pop out of the bushes over there with an assault rifle and he would just shoot him and move on…probably without even blinking. He's **definitely** mine…_ Diana smiled even bigger at more thoughts of the fun that might happen that night.

They reached the hospital and Diana's thoughts immediately shifted over to the task at hand. _Work now, play later_. She stepped up to the lobby's main desk, pulled out her INTERCEPT badge and showing it to the lady. The receptionist didn't say anything, just wrote 'Floor 9, room's 929, 930'. Diana nodded and turned to the elevators. 

She was there to investigate the two people that had magically appeared out of nowhere at the MasterDome the day before. INTERCEPT wasn't near as stupid as most of the media; they could tell my Action Man's reaction that it wasn't part of the show…and seeing how there were images of trilibugs swarming the two bodies as they appeared, INTERCEPT figured that this might be connected to the supposedly dead Dr. X.

You see, the two figures appeared out of nowhere, glowing dark, misty green and there were images of large trilibugs crawling on them. After a second or two, there was a dull flash and they appeared to be humans. Judging by how they seemed to be acting, they were dazed and unconscious, awake for only a moment after they had appeared. 

Diana's first thought was that they were assassins for supposedly deceased Dr. X. They might've been part of one of his new projects before he supposedly died. A teleportation project and now they were mad because X was dead and they were seeking revenge. Simple but…it didn't seem to fit. Asazi had also been killed, that was for sure; Tempest disappeared after the final conflict and anyone else that was anywhere near the battle that was involved with X, had to have been killed…so, theoretically, the Council of Doom and X were now both gone, hopefully never to resurface… The battle… 

Diana had been there when the battle took place and…well, to say the least, Action Man suddenly wasn't the comedic, enjoyable star he used to be… Now it seemed like his light blue eyes were dark, his muscular shape villainous and his voice sinister…no, things wouldn't be the same. _But he's still a great guy_, Diana concluded as the elevator doors opened, revealed to her the ninth floor.

She glanced at the nearest door, a number saying '901' on it. 

"They're in the last two rooms," she said, then lowered her voice and continued, "keep your weapons handy and your eyes looking for anything suspicious. Take no chances."

Diana readied the gun she had hidden in her waist without anyone noticing and started walking down the bright, white hospital hallways. There was a nurse here and there, a small living room area in one part of the floor…929 and 930 were at one corner of the building, far from any patients; there were just custodial closets nearby. 

Diana's two assistants checked the closets and the rest of the nearby area, seeing no one. Diana stepped into 929, leaving her assistants outside the door to guard. The girl, say mid to late teens, was lying on her bed, asleep. She thought about waking her but decided against it. _Might as well check the other one…if he's asleep, I'll just come back in here and wait till she wakes up._

She went into 930, closing the door behind her and saw that the boy, probably twenty to twenty-five years of age and very attractive, was also asleep. _Great…another waiting mission._ She smiled though, thinking about the young man asleep. He was quite attractive and—

A sound filled her ears and a green, phosphorescent light filled the room. Diana held a hand up to cover her eyes and tried to see the boy and—WHOA!

Diana dove to the right, pulling out her Glock as she was in the air, and as she landed, took aim at the huge trilibugs that were swarming the young man's body. They seemed to appear from nowhere and then scatter out of nowhere…_they're just images…this is what happened at the MasterDome_! Diana lowered her gun and stood up, her eyes adjusted to the light. She could the see him, still sleeping, and then there was a flash of light and…

Diana closed her eyes because of the light but when she opened them…

Clothes lay on the bed. As if the owner had disappeared right out of them. The shirt was right where the man's chest was and the pants right where his legs had been…_what the…_

Diana darted out of the room and into 929 before her partners could ask her what was going on. The girl's body was gone too, the clothes still arranged as if she had forsaken them with out moving…

The two were gone. They had disappeared right before of Diana's eyes…and it was quite obvious that Dr. X, the thought-to-be dead scientist, wasn't as dead as everyone had hoped…

****

Author's Note

Getting better?


	3. Dim Light

Wastelands… 

Wastelands…

****

Chapter 3

Dim Light

Connor awoke to huge, robotic bugs crawling all over him…he almost panicked but quickly realized that he didn't feel them. They were—_or maybe I am,_ he thought—were glowing a dark, vaporous green that almost gave Connor the chills. Then in a quick flash, it was all gone and he could see around him. _Where in the world—or time—am I?_ He was lying next to a road, and, quite suddenly, a car flew by him. _Wow…a real convertible, one of those one's from…**now**, I guess._

It hit a three-way intersection a few hundred meters down the road and whipped a hard right, looking as if it almost tipped over. Then it continued it's way down the road, eventually blinking out of sight. Connor got to his feet and felt a cold chill and then realized that…_where's my shirt?_ He glanced down and saw that his shirt was lying on the ground, next to his feet. He was still wearing his shoes, pants, his coat was still wrapped around his waist, and his socks were on…_so how'd my shirt come off?_ He put it back on, shrugged off the mishap and glanced around the area. 

It was nighttime, a small, crescent moon hanging in the midst of the stars in the black night. There was a lot of city lights down the road behind him, probably about ten miles away; it seemed as if he were on a mountain and the city was at the base of it. He looked up towards the top and saw a small settlement a mile or two up the mountain but other than that, it was quiet and the terrain was mainly forest. 

Connor started walking when he tripped over something on the ground. He rolled a little bit but wasn't hurt at all. He looked over at what he had—_Delia_! She seemed okay, her breathing deep and face…still pretty. The edges of his lips went up a little bit at the thought of just sitting here for awhile, Delia asleep and him making sure nothing happened. 

His mission…he suddenly remembered what he was here for. It was obvious that they had been sent back in time. The TFP was successful but…their main objective was to stop the war, but how? No one even knew who started it or why. The world just started falling apart in 2007, then, in 2011, somebody decided to just start destroying it, causing everybody else to react which led up to the United States and the rest of North America getting annihilated. 

Oh well… _Whatever happens, at least we can try and stop it. We might have **years** to try and stop it…or…it might be 2011…_ That thought gave him chills. _I've got to find where we are and what year it is. Or this project was a waste of important time and supplies._

Connor heard Delia rousing and looked over at her. It suddenly hit him that she wasn't wearing a shirt; the same thing had happened to her. He quickly turned his head away. 

"What the—where's my shirt?" 

"Look around, it's probably somewhere close by," Connor said. Delia fell back; she hadn't seen him there, leaning against the tree. She smiled when she realized he was looking away. _He understands and he's not a pervert…how relieving_. Delia looked around for her shirt and found it seconds later, hiding under a bush. "The same thing happened to me."

"Where are we," she asked, putting on her shirt and standing up.

Sensing that it was okay to turn around, Connor looked at her and said, "I don't know. I remember us suddenly being in a stadium and a guy flying right at me, blocking the sun but I blacked out and now…I don't know. We just got here a couple minutes ago. I have no idea what's going on though, or what years it is or what country it is."

Delia could discern the mild fear in his voice. It wasn't panicky fear; it was the fear that you felt when you weren't sure what was going on, or when you might die. "I can tell you one thing for sure though…my wounds from that island battle a few weeks ago are completely healed. I don't know how but I feel as if I never got hurt."

Delia started taking notes mentally. She, too, was scared but she knew that she had to keep focused on what they were supposed to do. "Okay…we don't know where we are or what year it is…so that means that…"

Connor nodded. "It could be minutes before the nukes."

Delia shuddered with as chills washed over her. She took in her surroundings, the city below, the small town up the mountain and the forests. And then she asked the question…, "What do we do?"

He shrugged. "I guess we could walk up to that little town up there and find some simple answers. Somebody is bound to know what year it is." There really wasn't anything else to say so they started walking up the peak, along the street. 

§

Alex shook his head frustration. He just remembered that he left his communication/watch/thing back at the MasterDome. He whipped the convertible around the road and took off back toward the town, taking the same road. Big-Air was close to the top of the little mountain he was on and it wouldn't take too long… 

As he drover, Action Man wondered what the point of life really was. Was it to make a difference in this overcome-by-darkness, povertized, forsaken world? Or was it to make money, get the fame, and find a good island that you can build a small vacation spot on and live the tropical, cocoa-bongo life? The more the famed Alex Mann thought about it, the worse off he felt. None of those was the point of life; that he knew for sure. Perhaps it was to defend good, you know…fight the fight of good vs. evil and do whatever you can to make the world better for the future generations that are gonna tear it up anyway…

Alex frowned and whipped the car a solid left, cruising down the highway at a good hundred miles-an-hour. The wind rustled his hair and caused his eyes to blink…_what if I get in an accident_, a voice from deep down seemed to ask. _What would it matter? This life is a waste of time that we don't truly have_. 

What are the answers? Everything seemed to add up to that one question…what is this burning inside? Why do I have the American dream of money and fame and yet…yet there's still nothing…?

§ _An hour later…_

Alex was flying back up the mountain, the moon now hanging right above him, it seemed. He came to the T-intersection, swerved right and continued down the road. 

__

Dee-Dee!

Alex glanced at his watch to find the good ol' Coach Grey looking him, the log cabin and Canadian woods behind the tan figure. "Coach, I'm sorry but…now is not the time to tell me that the Equation or the AMP Factor or some other math term is telling you that something is going wrong. I need some time away from this whole world, all right?"

Coach Grey's face showed no emotion but his eyes betrayed what his thoughts were; surprise and confusion. "Okay…Alex, uh…well, I caught the following top-secret fax report on the wire that was being sent to a INTERCEPT fax machine to one of the highest offices. No factors on this on Alex…it's big. I'm sending it to Big-Air so check the machine when you get back."

Alex sighed. _Some people just can't take a hint, especially when you really need them to **back off**._ "Okay Coach; I'll check it out when I get back but I'm not taking up any missions before…until I get some things and some thoughts and some stuff down…is that okay with you, Coach?"

He looked down for a second and then replied, "Yes Alex. But let me tell you something before you make any hasty conclusions. INTERCEPT thinks that Dr. X might still be alive and making people disappear, these people possibly being Neo-Humans." The screen blinked out and the Action Man logo came on, a mixture of black, yellow and blue. 

__

So INTERCEPT thinks that X is still alive… Alex almost shuddered at the thought; you see, he was very much afraid of Dr. X, even though you would never think he was because of the way he used to face him every time X came up with something. _Gangreen might still be alive too…those two were a dangerous combination. _Alex remembered when Gangreen put some stuff into the new drink that they had been sponsored by, causing everyone to go crazy. _That wasn't much fun either._

Alex was, and always has been, consumed by fear…it's just that the second he sees anyone on the Council of Doom, he remembers the time that Team X-treme's Big-Air almost got shot down by military jets because of Dr. X's auto-pilot bug. That wasn't wrong, it was pure evil that was stopped but not without the risk of their lives, as well as a few hundred thousand people. The nukes at the base they were going to crash in to…those nukes would've killed thousands upon thousands upon thousands…and they probably would've caused a huge war. The US would've reasonably thought out who they think it might have been, blown the crap out of whoever they concluded it to be and then…well, there would be World War Three…and Alex would've had to fight in it. _No wait…no, I would already be dead._

Alex switched the brights on his headlights and shifted into a lower gear. He—whoa! Alex swerved into the other lane, dodged a car by getting into the left side of the road's shoulder and then swerved back into his lane, just barely avoiding an eighteen-wheeler. _What the hell is wrong with those people…man…!_ The two people were no longer on the road but a pissed off Alex was.

He pulled the convertible onto the shoulder and switched off the engine. He got out of the car and walked back down the highway, his eyes scanning for any signs of life. The roads were quiet, a gentle breeze blowing around, rustling a few leaves here and there… Alex squinted but could see nobody and no characters anywhere… The scalding, heated rage that was surging through his veins slowly quelled, his thoughts no longer angry, but a little relenting. 

__

Ain't nobody perfect…at least I didn't hit them and hopefully, no one else will; but if I see 'em again, I'm gonna run them down and beat the living shit out of them. Alex walked back to the convertible and started the engine. He felt better. He didn't think that they should be punished—they probably learned their lesson from watching him swerve away and almost cause an accident.

Alex started the convertible and eased back up on the mountain. _I think I'll just take it easy the rest of the night_, he concluded, letting it go. Relief seemed to come over him but he ignored it and focused on driving…

§ _Later…_

Mr. Mann pulled the convertible into Big-Air's cargo room and switched off the engine. It was late, he was tired and it seemed like his nice, warm bed was calling for him. He left the cargo room, activated the alarm system, and took a deep breath as the door shut behind him. He smoothly walked through the large plane to his room_. Life stinks at times but…you better not put it to waste_, he thought. 

Action Man lowered himself onto his bed, blinked once and…

§

Back in the car, Connor and Delia silently stared at each other in the red glare of a dim light. It had been a few minutes since the man had left the room but they wanted to be absolutely sure that it was safe for them to come back. Finally, Connor slowly rose up and examined the room, trying to see if there were any computers or anything of the sort…none. 

He motioned that to Delia that she could get up; they had been hiding behind the passenger and driver seats of the convertible that they snuck into when the guy got out and looked for them. Connor glanced at the door that the man had disappeared through and wondered what was on the other side. He knew he was on grounded plane but other than that, he knew exactly nothing.

__

It's time for the mission to get going, he thought aversely. He, as quiet as he could, slowly opened the door and stuck his head inside. Delia's head popped out under his, eager to see. Connor didn't like it but what could he say, she was basically doing what he was doing…she just didn't know what to do if a someone suddenly stepped out with a gun aiming at them…

Connor silently stepped inside. A light blue light on the back wall nebulously lighted the room. The room consisted of a nice, polished table, a few counters and cupboards on the walls and what looked like an old coffee machine sat on one counter. There were five doors that exited the room, two on both the left and right sides of the room and one at the cardinal. Connor guessed that the one at the front led to the cockpit.

He had seen pictures of the older planes; they were a lot stronger than nowadays—the future's. Connor walked over to the front door, very carefully because this half wasn't lit. He found the metal slot that opened the door and pulled it, revealing a lighted display of gauges, lights, and switches. _Yep, the cockpit_, thought Connor, proud that he was getting a few of the guesses and assumptions right. 

He whirled around at the sound of something hitting the floor, sounding a muffled _thump_. He saw Delia on the floor, her feet close to a thick wire that was just barely in the light. _She's gonna get us caught, _he thought but quickly realized she had no training whatsoever in sneaking around—she was the mission's scientist, not spy or war tactics specialist. 

He quietly walked to her and helped her up—he didn't see the appreciative smile on her face. He put a finger to his lips, indicating her to try and keep quiet and he turned, facing one of the two doors on the right-hand wall. He walked up to it and gently twisted the doorknob, opening it just a crack. There were two beds that were full of one person each, both sleeping soundly. Connor checked the next door and saw that there was a bunch of equipment such as suits, a helmets, a bike and other various things. The other two rooms contained a person sleeping in each. 

Connor figured that the room he was now in was a conference or briefing room and that whoever's plane this was, it belonged to some kind of global-traveling sports team or something similar to that. The team was three guys and a girl, that much he could tell because he could see, thanks to dim lights in every room, what sex each sleeping person was. 

Delia had been silent quite awhile, Connor realized. He frowned and started to turn around to look for her only to find—BAM! Connor fell back against the table, his nose suddenly bleeding an emission of dark blood that fell down his face and onto his shirt. He immediately acted unconscious while flexing for another attack, hoping to fool his attacker and get him/her to let their guard down. 

The second attack didn't come and Connor heard footsteps come up next to him. He could feel their breath on his face and, quite abruptly, his right fist shot up and hit what felt like a man's jaw. He heard them stumble backwards, a grunt of surprise coming from his throat. Connor rolled off the left side of the table, putting the table between him and the attacker. 

Delia was on the floor, unconscious and next to Connor's feet. He could see a bruise forming on the back of her neck; the aggressor must've knocked her out by hitting her neck. _I didn't even hear anything_, thought Connor. 

He watched his enemy slowly stand up and feel his jaw. "I don't want to hurt you," he said. Judging by the masculinity and height, he was the same guy that they had hitched a ride with. 

"I don't want to hurt you either," replied Connor. 

"But you're on my plane," said the figure. "You're trespassing, snooping, probably vandalizing, breaking and entering…all that stuff." This guy didn't sound too happy.

Connor didn't answer. After a few seconds, the man suddenly jumped across the table, placing one arm for balance and bringing up his two legs and swinging them around, kicking Connor across the face and temple.

Connor fell to the ground but the hit was clean and hard…he tried to fight it but…the void of darkness singed in and took control…

Author's Note 

Does anybody remember where the MasterDome is, the one that Nick Masters had just made in the episode that introduced Tempest? I can't remember; if you do, please write it down in your review. I thought it was somewhere in Europe but I'm not sure.

I've gotten a few questions/comments asking whether or not this is a sequel to X's Dream; no, it isn't but it is related (only a little right now) a lot to Asazi. Bits and pieces of Alex's past and his feelings for her and other things **will** have a few spoilers for Asazi so…

No, this isn't a sequel to X's Dream but it is commensurated to Asazi. Hope you are enjoying the fic. I think that it will turn out nicely in the end. And thanks for reviewing!!! J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J 


	4. Explanations

Wasteland… 

Wasteland…

****

Chapter 4

Explanations

Alex stepped back after making sure that the man was unconscious. Whoever he was, he was very good at sneaking around a plane, especially one with a highly sensitive security system. _Just how in the world did these two people get in here?_ Something kept tugging at Alex, a caviling thought that kept coming back, saying that these two people were, in some way, familiar… But the prominent Alex Mann couldn't place where'd he'd seen them… He thought hard but couldn't establish the memory…

"So where do you think they're from," a tired Fidget asked. Alex shrugged. "Their clothes look and feel kinda strange, something out of a movie or something. I mean—here, you feel that guys shirt." Fidget bent down and brushed against the mystery man's shirt; a suspicious look ran over her face, her eyes squeezing almost shut, one eyebrow raised and her lips tight. "Feels like leather," she concluded.

Alex nodded, assenting her observation. "I'm mainly wondering where they're from; I feel like I've seen them somewhere but I can't seem to place it."

Ricky and Grinder, both sipping cups of coffee, were inclined against a counter. "Ya' know, I think that they were one of those fans that wins one of those 'Meet the A-Man' contests or something…because I know for **sure** that I've seen them in the MasterDome." Ricky's thoughts seemed to trigger a light bulb in Alex's head.

"That's it! These two were those two people that came out of thin air in the MasterDome! This guy—," Alex pointed at Connor, "—appeared out of nowhere right below me while I was in the air, doing a stunt. I remember now!"

"I remember now too, Alex," Grinder said, "but weren't they taken to a nearby hospital, then transferred to that big one several hundred miles from here? I think that's what happened mate…yeah, I'm pretty sure." Grinder sounded quite positive.

The other three Team X-Treme members seemed to nod their heads. They were all tired but this unexpected intrusion had to be dealt with.

"I say it's time to wake up one of them, preferably the girl. I don't think she has any escape or self-defense moves so we could keep her on Big-Air." Alex thought for another second, then added, "The guy fought back pretty good and I don't think I want that to happen again."

"Yeah, mate, I think you've got a bruise on your chin…'d that come from him," asked Grinder. Alex's nod implied a simple 'yes'.

"Then let's get this show on the road," Grinder said, turning around and opening a high cabinet. He pulled a medical kit out of hit, chose a good syringe and injected one of the ten liquids in the assortment into the needle. He walked over to Delia's limp, unconscious body, found the vain opposite of her elbow and slipped the needle in. He quickly pulled out the needle and put a cotton ball and band-aide over the little split in the skin. 

"What was that stuff, Grinder," asked Alex.

"It's a new drug called IA, also known as Instant Attentive. It's real meaning is 'Immediate Adrenaline' and it should start right about…"

Delia lurched up, so sudden and fast that Ricky and Fidget jumped. She remembered being knocked out…getting on the plane… _Who are these people_, she thought, once she noticed Grinder, Fidget, Ricky and Alex. Then she saw Connor, a small bloodstain on the carpet next to his face. 

"Connor," she cried, suddenly not caring about the four people or where she was or even what happened; just Connor and if he was okay. She gently turned him over, checked his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive and looked like his nose was just a little banged up.

"Who are you and why are you on this plane," came a voice from one of the men. Delia stood up and looked at the voice's broadcaster. He was tall, very well built and quite handsome. 

"My name is Delia and my friend and I meant you, or anyone else any harm."

"Then what are you doing here? Why are you on our plane?"

It seemed the big guy was doing the talking and seemed like…from the way he was looking at her, like he'd already seen us, he just didn't know who we were…_how very strange…_ "We needed a place to sleep and some food. It seemed like somebody with a convertible would have both of those." Delia tried to speak as if she knew what year it was and like she was a present-day person but it was really hard when you didn't know what year it was. "We've…we've…we've just got here and we weren't sure where to go so we snuck into your car and hid behind the seats on the way here. We don't want to hurt you or steal anything."

Grinder was studying her body movements and face…it seemed to him like she was telling the truth but there were some serious flaws—_we just got here? Hid behind the seats?_ Not to mention the hesitance in her voice when she was trying to give them a reason for being there. _I thing Alex is bright enough to realize when someone is behind a seat, especially in the corner of his eye; he's a good mate and he wouldn't miss anything like that._

"Look…," Delia started, "I can't really explain anything without you thinking I'm insane…or mad or paranoiac, or severely neurotic…" A look of pure doubt came over her face.

"Go ahead," said Fidget. "We've heard and been through some pretty serious shit too. I mean, Dr. X and—," Alex glared at her and Fidget blushed and looked away. "Look," Fidget said, turning back around, "we'd believe a lot of stuff, particularly after what we've been through." The dark red haired girl looked like one of those hyperactive people that did life-risking things as a regular day job; one of those people that isn't scared of anything but people. _Like the scientists back at Island 86; they'll risk their lives performing metabolistic, very explosive and life-threatening experiments…but they'd **never**, ever go to war because…well, because they were more scared of people than they were certain molecules. Weird_, Delia concluded and got back to the present—past.

_How do I tell them I'm a girl from the year 2011, here to stop a nuclear war that I—Connor and I don't even know who started? That's impossible to do without them thinking I'm purely demented…perhaps I should ask them first…yeah…_

"Where do you think I'm from?"

Ricky finally stood straight up, his hands waving wildly and his eyes going everywhere. "WHAT ARE WE **DOING????** THESE PEOPLE COULD BE X'S OLD ASSASSINS OR SOME PEOPLE FROM THE COUNCIL OF DOOM OR SOME OF ASAZI'S OLD FRIENDS OR…AND…MAYBE—'' He stopped, quite suddenly…his eyes rolled back into his head and Ricky…Ricky fainted. 

Fidget rolled her eyes and Alex's head just sagged and shook 'no'. Grinder paid no attention to Ricky; his reaction was quite typical and to be expected when something out of the ordinary came up. 

A groan suddenly came from Connor's formerly unconscious body. His arms moved and he started to push himself up. Delia dropped to her knees next to him, helping him up. She made some mental notes; a light bruise in the left oculus area, bruising around the nose area and dried blood all down his face and a little of his shirt. "Connor…are you okay," she asked quietly. 

He looked at her, blinked a couple times, then said, "Hope so, because if I'm not, you're on your own." He looked down, saw a chair sitting under the conference table, pulled it out and sat in it. He could careless about what the people that lived here did about it. Thankfully, they didn't do anything to stop him.

"Why would she be on her own," asked Alex. It was quite indisputable that these two weren't in any way related to the extinct Dr. X, or the deceased Council of Doom. Team X-treme would probably be dead if the two were; X always got to the point…which was, tell Alex about his plan so Alex could enfeeble it, and then try to destroy him. "I mean, judging by the way you said it, it sounds like her being alone is not just a really bad thing. It would mean something…I don't know, a lot more important."

Delia looked at Alex, then back at Connor. She mouthed 'should we' to Connor and he shrugged a 'I don't really care'. "Might as well," he said out loud. Delia sighed and figured _what have we got to lose?_ "We…we are from—''

Connor grumpily interrupted. "No, no, no…" He sighed and then continued, "Alright, what year is it?"

"It's 2001," replied Grinder. 

"Alright…in the year 2007, Japan will leave the unbelievably successful United Nations." Fidget's eyebrows shot up as Connor continued. "We don't know why they left but we know that it is—was, will be, whatever—… And then, a few months after that, the Soviet Union is suddenly rebuilt out of nowhere. Millions of troops suddenly visible by a space station—and only one satellite—no other satellites; just one name _Striker_." Grinder frowned. Connor paid no notice to any of their retrogressions. 

"You follow me so far?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Then assassinations start taking place all over the world, one after another until hits became half of most nationwide newscasts." He paused for a second, trying to think. "Then, in the next year or so—not sure when—the United States elected a new Democratic president that was full of shit.

"For instance, in the year 2008, America got hit by some terrorist group in Dallas, sorta like the World Trade Center in 2001—my bad, this year; anyway, they blew up the Galleria mall, killing over two thousand people…and instead of ordering us to retaliate, the president banned the usage of cars in the Dallas area for a year because the pollution from the blast and smoke and stuff supposedly fractured the ozone above Dallas. Do you see what I mean? That president cared more about his 'Mother Earth' and ozone layer than he did his own people—and half the nation praised him for it. Mainly because they were influenced by the media, who was, by then, mostly owned by New Agists and the Nature people. They shaped and molded and persuaded people to care more for the trees than our country…" Connor shook his head in disgust but said, "I ain't got anything against that but when you're hit as hard as we were getting thrashed as we were, you **have **to do something."

Fidget jumped in. "When was the last time you had a CAT scan?"

"Don't have 'em up in the future."

"And all this happened…in the year 2007," Alex asked, trying very hard to act like he was going along with it. Connor nodded and replied, "Mostly it started in 2007 but the biggy didn't happen until 2011.

"Alright…in 2011," Connor explicated, "the world is falling apart, the U.S. not doing very well at all and Europe…let's not get into Europe. And then it happened…the nukes were launched, everybody else detected them being launched, they got scared and launched theirs and…and in a matter of minutes, the United States was blown up. We got the shit blown out of us. Complete, nucleonic annihilation. **But**, the nukes **did** radiate the land and they did kill everyone in N. America, but they also blew N. America into thousands of small islands. And now, five armies, countries, battalions, regiments, whatever, are fighting over all these islands. I fought for one of 'em and we, the Remnants, won but…we…well, we had a lot of casualties. It was a big blow to our force."

"Alright mate," said Grinder. "Why would anyone want to go to the destroyed N. America? And who started all of this?"

Delia answered that one with her science adeptness. "About a month after the nukes were launched, some scientist sold a formula that told you how to process the nuclear radiation in the air into very powerful energy. One small plant of this dissemination air that's full of embryonic protons and a new type of electron fusion could draw out the same amount of energy as three nuclear power plants. You could solicit this power for millions…unfortunately, it turned into a war. And whoever wins monopolizes the whole thing and could control the world's power supply if they have enough guerilla warfare troops and strategic minds… Basically, whoever wins, controls the world."

It took Team X-treme a second to digest the 'future' and these two outsiders. "So…who started the war," interrogated Grinder. 

Connor took a deep breath. "We don't know…me and her were sent back in time to stop it. I'm just the war guy; she knows all the physics stuff. The TFP—Time Frame Project—was completely experimental. For all we know, we could've ended up in dinosaur times."

Alex frowned as a thought hit him. "So you're here, from the future, to stop a war that you don't even know who started."

"Pretty much, yeah…"

Alex looked at the floor—at Ricky who was sleeping soundly on the floor—and tried very hard to hide his smile. He had a feeling about these two…they might be telling the truth but this really was one of the biggest, idiotic stories he'd ever heard. "Well…I guess, to sum up everything," Action Man said, "you can have autographs at the MasterDome tomorrow. Please don't **ever** come back on our plan again. Now—," Alex started scoot them out, "—you'll just leave."

Alex sent them out the regular door and closed it behind him—and burst out laughing. Fidget just shook her head and went to bed, mumbling something about idiot fans. Grinder drained the last of his coffee and said, "I've got a funny feeling about those two…ya' know mate, it's not everyday two people disappear out of nowhere and into the middle of the MasterDome."

Alex dismissed the thought. "They're just crazed fans looking for attention and autographs. I'm going back to bed. You staying up?"

"Yeah…I think we should stay awake tonight, just in case something happens." Grinder shook his head, instincts trying to tell him something but he wasn't sure. "I've just got this feeling…"

Alex showed surprise. "Me too…well, you wanna take shifts."

Grinder smiled. "Sure mate. See you in a couple hours." Alex nodded and went back to bed, giving Grinder the solitude he wanted so he could think and ponder the occurrences of the night…

_Now that I think about it, terrorism really picked up this year. I mean, the World Trade Centers and the anthrax scare that seemed to be going around the U.S.… No, everybody knows about that…but the way he said it…_ He tried to sort out what the two strangers said, putting together what Delia and Connor had said with his own thoughts and theories about the two mystery people…

§

About a half-mile away, Delia and Connor found a good little grove, secluded in the woods of the small mountain they were on.

"Well, at least we know how to explain it to future people," said Delia, trying to put some hope on the situation. 

Connor just replied sarcastically, "Yeah, so eventually we can get put in an asylum. Listen…I don't know why but I fell real tired. G'night." He laid down on some leaves he had tried to make a pillow with and tried to sleep. Delia just watched him, smiled at the thought of…

Sleep sunk into her…


	5. The Asian Slayer

Wasteland…

****

Chapter 5

The Asian Slayer

"All right, so let's review what we already know so far," Delia said. They had both awaken a few moments ago and, assessing the sun's angle, it was near noon. "The sun is brighter than they say," said Connor, distracted with the sun. In the wasteland of the former N. America, the radiation blocks off most of the sun's light; the same as a full moon in **this** year, 2001, is noon back—or forward—at home. "Kinda strange huh," Delia said. "I thought that they would think that we were completely insane and idiots for trying to convince them that we're from the future."

"Oh," Connor replied, "I'm sure that they're very glad that we are gone from them." Connor knew that they had been going along with what they had been saying; just agreeing and asking questions so we would leave them thinking we had won and that we wouldn't come back. _They think that we're that pointless…hell, who's gonna be believe us? 'Hey, me an' her are time travelers from the future and we were wondering…uh, who do you think might start a war in the next few years? That's why we're…'_ The whole idea of walking up to somebody and saying that was a bit thick. Simply put: **riririd**ridiculous. 

"I think that they believed us," pronounced Delia. "They seemed to come along with it…well…the 'Grinder' guy might've believed us; he seemed to be asking the most questions and wondering why we would say some bizarre story."

_So_, thought Connor, but he said, "Yeah, maybe…but I think that they won't believe us and that there ain't much we can do about it." Delia suspired, saying, "You're **such** **a** pessimist! I can't believe you!" _Uh oh, _thought Connor, _that's not an exhausted reply; that's anger._

"Hey," Connor said, "I'm not trying to bring down the mission…I'm just trying to preserve our morale for when something disappointing happens…" It didn't make all that much sense but at least it was a little better. 

_They had to put me on this mission…because those cowardly scientists aren't sure enough about their **own work** to experiment anything on themselves…_ _That sounded a lot more complicated than it is………_

Delia was starting articulating again but Connor's instincts suddenly kicked in…warning him of something nearby. He pretended to be listening to Delia but his ears were vigilant of something faint but nigh… He turned, acting as if swatting at a fly, looking for anybody hiding in the trees or behind them. His eyes saw nothing but the many fall leaves on the ground and the generally naked trees. Suddenly, a blur of invisible movement went from behind one tree to another. _What the hell was that?!_ He rubbed his eyes, realizing that he was tired. He also realized that Delia's voice had stopped talking. He averted his legs and looked back at her…

Chills crawled over him. Her face was pale and her eyes frozen on the tree that the hallucination had gone behind. "Did you see that," she whispered. Connor shook his head 'no' but motioned to her that she needs to keep talking…she didn't say anything. Connor stood up and abruptly said, "I need to take a piss." She fabricated a complaint and turned her back away from the tree that the…thing was hiding behind. Connor walked by the tree, his eyes examining it as he walked by………

Nothing. Nothing was there. Just a tree… Connor continued walking away, getting to where Delia certainly wouldn't be able to see him. _Leaves crunching from behind!_ Connor heard the leaves and out of a military-trained reaction, rolled to the right, safely away from where he was standing. An almost-invisible man ran right where Connor had been standing and Connor realized what he was seeing. Somebody was wearing some kind of suit that made him or her inperceivable to the eye…all of them except for the outline of their body. 

The figure stopped and it's head whipped around, looking straight at Connor. Judging by the figure's chest, it was definitely a girl and she was probably fast and agile. Connor heard the sound of a blade being pulled from a sheath and his eyes saw a very slender object coming from the top of her arm. _She's got a sword!_ Connor jumped back as the girl went in for her first strike. Connor grabbed a nearby branch and tore it off the tree. It was about half a foot wide and a good ten feet long. _This'll help until I can find a weapon…_ But somehow…somehow he knew the blade would cut through the thick branch. _Nah, it couldn't…_ SCHINK! 

It did.

As the young woman was whirling around from her last aggression, Connor dove forward, smashing her into the ground. It was strange to attack someone that was almost invisible; as if diving at a target you know is there but you can't see it. The assailant was only stunned for a brief second and Connor started dealing blows to her face. Suddenly, on one hit, part of the woman's mask came off, revealing a part of her cheek. "No," came a girl's voice. It was in another language but…_I know what she said! That was another language…_ Connor didn't know how he knew it but he would resolve that later. He dealt more blows and with each one, more of the invisible suit came off. After the sixth punch, the whole head part of the suit had been ripped off. 

The assassin was Asian, what country Connor wasn't sure of but her face showed obvious ire and that meant he had to knock her out somehow. Suddenly he remembered that she still had that blade out but it was too late—he felt a sudden void enter him, through his chest and out his back. It slowly went back out of him but the pain was unbelievably overwhelming. He could now see the blade attached to the killer's invisible arm. He looked down and saw his insides, intestines and stomach but parts of it were…flickering somehow…oh. The part of the suit that was on the blade had come off of the blade and was inside him, not working right. Connor started seeing dots but as he watched his insides…they were growing back?! Connor uttered a moan of horror as he watched his intestines slowly regenerate back to what they were before the large blade had cut into him. In about fifteen more seconds, his skin was back, though the pain was still there.

The Asian girl stood over him, the blade sinking back into her arm. There were holes all over the girl's suit, revealing patches of skin here and there and…strange, unfamiliar looking devices imbedded into her, sticking out of her skin. The blade had come from one of them. 

"Who—what are you," Connor started to ask but some kind of gun came out of one of the devices on her right arm and he dove to his right, dodging the proton lasers. _They had protons back…now?! I thought they weren't invented until 2009!!_ Connor, once recovered from his dive, jumped at a tree, then bounced off of it onto another, then did the same thing, and finally, he crashed into the assassin. She…it took Connor a few seconds to realize that she had growled at him. _She just growled?! What in the world are you?_ She started to raise her right hand but he kicked it away and planted his left heel into her throat. She wasn't going to stop until he—and probably Delia—were dead…and that left him no choice but to kill her. "You had it coming," he said, then crushed her neck. The bones popping told him she was dead and blood that started flooding from her mouth, ears, nose, and eyes told Connor that she had already been hurt…_but from what_, he wondered. He hadn't done anything that would make her hemmorhage. 

_How strange that she should—_his thoughts were interrupted by another woman's voice—Delia! "Connor! Are you okay?" She raced down the small him she was on top of him, and when she reached him, hugged him around the neck. A second later she stepped back and started looking over him. "Are you okay? Did you take any hits, any at all?" Connor just shook his head and nodded in the corpse's direction. 

"She's dead, and yes, I took a hit…in a way."

She frowned. "Explain."

"She had a blade and she got it right through me—as in right into my chest and out the other end. When she pulled it back out, I looked down at myself and saw my…my insides and they were regenerating."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Regenerating?? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Every thing grew back?" Connor nodded and showed her his stomach. He had a large scar where the sword had gone into him; she looked at his back and saw that there was a scar there too. Obvious proof that he wasn't lying. She had watched him recover and nursed him a few times too, and she has seen him without his shirt on enough to know that those two scars had never been there before. 

"Maybe it's…," she tried to think about what it could be but her mind went blank…except for a gut feeling that she already knew that he could do this. She…it was just an instinct. Delia shrugged it off and kept trying to think of a solution. "Perhaps—well, there are for sure—things about time travel that we don't of, especially things about how are bodies are going to handle it. We weren't sure if we would come back with both arms, our head, etc. Maybe time travel somehoe altered my body's anatomy to where we heal a lot faster."

Connor nodded, accepting the theory but knowing and well-aware of the fact that it probably wasn't true. He had the feeling that she kind of felt that she already knew that he could do it. They both had the same instincts but Connor knew she'd deny knowing it until the truth was found…Delia was like that. You usually could never tell what she was really thinking half the time. 

Delia turned and looked at the dead body of the Asian killer. Her neck was crushed badly and the blood was now all around her head. She was so soaked that Delia couldn't really tell what she looked like. "What did you do to her?" 

Connor shrugged. "I just crushed her neck. All the rest of that blood came from a previous injury or something fragile that I woke up during the fight."

Delia bent down and mumbled, "I think I'm going to autopsy her." Connor made a gross look and replied, "Just what exactly are you going to autopsy her **with**? It's not like you're gonna find a scalpel, a weight device, and a few other much-needed tools for that kind of project. I mean, come on Delia, wake up. We don't have _jack_**shit** right now. And that's exactly what we need." Delia looked at him and said, "I know we don't have hardly anything other than the clothes on our backs—," Delia eyed Connor's torn up shirt lying nearby, "—the clothes on our bodies…**but**, it's quite obvious that this woman tried to kill you, it's quite obvious that nobody knows we're from the future except for the people on that plane and it's quite obvious that if I can find out anything about this woman, that might lead us to accomplishing our mission.

"As a military expert, you tell me what we should do," Delia finished. She had a dire smile on her face and Connor wondered what it was for.

Connor looked around, just to be sure, and said, "Can't argue with that. You do whatever you want with that…woman-thing but I'm gonna climb this tree and take a nap close to the top. If you need anything, just call me," he scurrilously finished. Connor turned away and looked at the tree he planned on climbing. He grabbed one branch and started pulling himself up. 

Delia looked at the body and bent down when she suddenly realized that she could only see tiny parts of the woman's body. Delia almost screeched but realized that she could see the outline. _Why didn't I notice that before_, she wondered. 

Connor had seen her jump when she actually looked at the body and knew almost exactly what she was thinking. _Because you were too concerned about me to even notice the body. I had to show it to you before you saw it._ He smiled and kept climbing. 

Delia soon realized that the woman had been wearing an invisibility suit. "Amazing," she said. She had heard of them back—forward—in the future but she'd never seen them before and had always wanted to. Delia touched the smooth fabric; it felt cold like steel, but it was very silky and it seemed…Delia pulled her hand back the moment she realized that the woman wasn't wearing any clothes underneath the invisibility suit. 

Delia thought she heard something cracking and popped and she looked up at Connor, who was still climbing up the tree. "Connor be careful, okay? That tree might be dead." _Sounds like my mother_, Connor thought as he continued climbing. 

Delia started to look back down when—BAM!! The fist came from nowhere and caught her in the lower jaw, left of the palaver. Blood sprayed from her mouth and Delia rolled away as a quick reaction. She was about to shout Connor's name when another hit came…only this one wasn't a punch or kick. The sword sunk into her chest, above her left breast, just millimeters away from her heart. Delia cried out just before duskiness clustered over her eyes and head…

Connor heard the cry and, hanging by one arm, looked down and—, "NNNOOO!" Connor was farther than thirty feet high as he swung his legs a little bit, aiming for the attacker, and he let go of the branch, falling unbelievably fast. The ether rushing by him, he crashed into the assassin's head, crushing her in between Connor and the ground. A half-second later, she whipped one of her arms around from under Connor and connected with Connor's solar plexus. Flying away from the hit, Connor crashed into a tree—_and went straight through it!_ The rest of the tree fell in a different trajectory, but Connor hit the ground and rolled several yards. 

Grunting from the pain, Connor was slowly getting to his feet when, quite suddenly, the Asian was standing over him. She sent her knee into his rib cage and he flew up a few feet, then landed back on his knees. "AAA," he yelled as a couple ribs snapped away from the spine and ligaments holding onto them. The pain was tormenting, agonizing his thoughts. Distortion was clouding his vision like an old television. His breathing fast, trying to take in the pain, and his adrenaline pumping rapidly, Connor slowly tried to get to his feet. He did and the Asian's face showed surprise…and what seemed like a little bit of fear. "AAA," Connor cried out as his regeneration moved his ribs around and started reattaching them to the spine. 

The Asian's head tilted a little to the left, as if realizing something. 

Connor suddenly felt better, instantly realizing that he was healed; very, very abscessed but healed. He kept acting like he was hurt. Finally, the Asian stepped forward to finish him off. Connor grabbed her by her leg and swung her around into a tree. 

She uttered a cry of pain as she hit the ground but quickly recovered, flinging away and getting good distance between Connor and herself. Her suit was now almost completely gone; she was completely nude before Connor but it was as if…

It was as if she didn't care. Connor frowned. _Everybody I know would cover himself or herself up…_ Then he remembered that she had growled earlier and it finally hit him…_she's not a human…she's something else, something…_ He couldn't figure it out and he didn't have time to. A gun formed on her arm and she raised it, aiming at Connor. Connor jumped onto a tree and started to rapidly climb up it. As he had expected, she shot the tree, aiming for him. The tree started falling and Connor pushed off of it, jumping away from the tree but pushing it onto the slayer. 

Just before a sickening masticate, the Asian let out a strident scream as the tree fell onto her. 

Connor hit the ground and slowly got back to his feet. _Delia_, he remembered and started limping over to her frail body. Cradling her in his arms, he checked for a pulse…there was none…

His eyes started to water up and he tried to fight the tears but…now he was alone. Alone in the past, to try and stop a war that he didn't even know who started…_no…no, no, no, no, no, no…_

Suddenly he heard leaves crunching and he looked up to find a short, teenage girl standing over him. She had a blue camera in her hand and fiery-red hair… She was one of the people on the plane they had broken into. She pointed to her camera with her index finger and said, "I got it all on tape. Hurry and we might be able to save her."

Connor was immediately on his feet, carrying Delia. 

The girl started jogging, Connor following the girl with Delia in his arms; he was hurting but Delia, to him, was worth ignoring his own detriments. In a few minutes they hit a trail. "The name's Fidget," she said, "and I still don't believe that **nitwit** story about you and her being from the future but I **do** believe this…you two are in some serious trouble."


	6. 00:04

Wasteland…

****

Chapter 6

00:04

In a few minutes, the group reached the plane that Connor and Delia had broken into. Connor noticed the large _Big-Air_ emblem on the side of the plane, thanks to the clouding skies and the dimming daylight; nightfall was coming. "In here," said the redhead who claimed to be 'Fidget'. "You can lay her here on the table while I go and get some help. Lord knows we're gonna need it; that girl looks like she got the shit beat out of her." 

_Yeah, thanks for your encouraging attitude toward the situation…c'mon Delia, don't die out on me now, we've almost got help._ Connor gently let her body down on the table, the blood beginning to drip onto the floor. Movement in the right of Connor's eyes revealed the big guy from the night before, with Fidget behind him. "Alex, right," Connor asked, hoping to release the sudden tension that seemed to fill the room…he nodded, saying, "Yeah, that's me; what happened to her?"

"We got hit in the woods…some freaky thing came at us…that doesn't matter right now, c'mon we need to help her." 

Alex nodded in agreement and said to Fidget, "Go get Grinder," he turned away and as Fidget was leaving he added, "Tell him it's an emergency!" Fidget replied, "Yeah, yeah, I'll hurry up…," a few mutters could be heard after that. Alex and Connor turned back to Delia. She was obviously losing blood, her face slowly beginning to become a pale, ivory white. Connor started getting agitated at the helplessness that he felt…_c'mon, we gotta do something **now**…_ He yelled in frustration, making Alex Mann jump with sudden—temporary—fright. 

Alex then started examining her wounds, as if critiquing them or planning on what he might do to heal them. "Oh shit," came an accented voice, "What the hell happen—that doesn't matter; alright, Alex, you set up the IV's, Fidget go call the hospital and get them over here with an ambulance and I will…uh…I'll…alright, what happened to her?"

"She took a sword through the chest, can't you fu—''

"Yes that's obvious but…**stop the bleeding**," cried Grinder and he whirled around to find a towel on a counter. He shoved it into her wound, the blue towel with the Action Man logo on it beginning to turn into a dark red or purplish color… _C'mon, c'mon, c'mon_, thought Connor. "What can I do to help," Connor asked and the guy apparently named Grinder said, "Well, you can apply pressure while I go outside and tell the paramedics what's happened to her." 

_Paramedics?_ Suddenly sirens were all around the plane, seeming to come from everywhere at one time, red flashes of light coming from the windows. _I didn't even notice them coming_, Connor thought as he took Grinder's place while he went outside to give a quick view of the victim. 

And in a few minutes, they were gone, rushed away by an ambulance…leaving Connor sitting outside on the cold concrete watching it speed away with someone that he had taken for granted…now the image of her face plagued his mind and he realized how much he meant to her…

And the tears flowed…

§

He had been out there for two hours when it finally occurred to Team X-treme that it was getting dark, the winter sun setting earlier than what they were used too. "We should get inside, into the warmth," observed Alex. "Are you **crazy**?! He broke into this place last night and if he did that, then it's likely that he's gonna take some stuff if we let him in! What's wrong with you? You're acting like Tempest, for…" She muted herself before she would say something that she'd regret.

"I'm putting away my CD's," she said and stomped into her room.

Alex shrugged, smiled, and said, "That would mean that she agrees with the idea, just has doubting instincts about it." Grinder laughed and they went outside to join Connor. On the way, Grinder asked, "What do you think about that whole 'from the future' episode they told us last night?" Alex sighed and said, "I think we need to call an asylum once this is over but…I got this strange feeling that there's more to meets the eye about those two…sort of like the feeling I got when I first saw Gangreen…but not the 'whoa he's evil' thing…something else…" 

"Sounds like you've got problems mate," commented Grinder and Alex pushed him away. 

They reached the cool, outside air and almost shivered. It was chilly and here this man was, sitting on the cold concrete of the parking lot wearing nothing but pants and a T-shirt…Grinder looked at Alex as if asking 'should I or should you'? Alex motioned that he would and then stepped forward to sit next to Connor. "We got some hot chocolate inside, if you want some," Alex asked gently. Connor smiled a sad, grim smile and said, "That's a fable that I've never gotten to try…" _A fable_, Alex wondered, but asked, "You can come inside if you want; we were about to have some when we figured you might want to join us…you know, get outta the cold." _He's coming whether—_

"It doesn't matter what I'd say, would it? You'd still ask me to come inside until I get so damned annoyed that it'd be a yes and then you'd pat yourself on the back for saving my health." 

Alex was speechless…and Connor got up, saying, "So I guess I should go inside, since you so most kindly insist." They all got started walking into the plane and Connor added, "I can see why you like the redhead, Mr. Alex. And Grinder…Delia is not available, just so you know." Out of pure confusion and the fact that their guards were down…Grinder and Alex stopped for a second, looked at each other and just knew—just knew that Connor had hit dead on…_how did he know_, solicituded Grinder… _Does this mean he likes Fidget too_, Alex wondered, but quickly concluded that that wasn't very likely…no offense to Fidget, just that…she's one in a million… Alex smiled at the thought of her fiery attitude and smirking face…then Grinder got in his face and said, "Let's go make some hot chocolate, mate."

As they stepped inside, Fidget appeared and said, "We've got a phone call from the hospital…they need to talk to Delia's buddy here—," they kept walking inside and she raised her voice, "—concerning her** life** you stupid jerk, get inside **now**. They hurried inside, Fidget following them with angry words and rolling eyes. She showed Connor the phone and he raised it to his ear and said, "Hello?"

"Yes, are you the young lady's friend that we picked up at the plane," came a frantic, hurried reply. It was a female, obviously a doctor and obviously concerned with Delia's mortality.

"I am," said Connor.

"Do you know where in the hell she came from? Do you have any idea about her cell structure or what the problem is with her blood?" 

_OH NO_, Connor realized with a deadening thought…_they've gotten into her blood and cells…if they find the protein nutrients then…_, "Oh shit," Connor concluded. In 2010, a medical discovery changed the world of medicine, making doctors nearly useless except for injuries; a doctor in southern Australia found that if he combined a certain, newly discovered protein and hardly a cell's worth of a type of uranium, then inject it into a newborn baby, the baby would have an almost invulnerable immune system. The two combined the proteins with the unbelievably small amount of uranium and then injected into a less-than-3-days-old-child would cause a chain reaction, starting in the heart. In a way, it's like a baby receiving estrogen, only in a different form and method and it's **much** more advanced. The cells could easily resist any simple-to-moderate diseases like a fever, a cold, and ones that are quite a bit worse, such as malaria, sickle cell syndrome and other diseases. There are some hereditary, but very few, quandary's it's incapable of fighting. 

"Yes I'm briefed on the problems that she has with her blood and body; just put her in a room, alone, no doctors and nothing attached to her except for an IV pumping water into her blood—," Connor covered the mouthpiece of the phone and asked quietly, "What year is it?" Alex man replied, "2001, about to be 2002," and Connor nodded, raising the phone back up to his mouth. 

"That should do it—check on her every, uh…every two hours and we'll be back to pick her up in the morning, around daw—nine'o'clock. That's the only way to save her life. Thank you, goodbye. Bye." Connor hung up before she could call him crazy but he knew and the doctor knew that there was nothing they could do to save Delia's life except for what Connor said…and only Connor knew that he and she had regeneration abilities. 

Connor decided to vicissitude to face the group of people looking at him and started to say, "Before you think I'm cra—''

"ARE YOU **CRAZY**," screamed Fidget, "SHE'S GONNA **DIE** AND YOU TELL THEM TO PUT HER IN A ROOM, ALONE?! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM? I DIDN'T RISK MY ASS TO GET YOU OUTTA THERE JUST SO SHE COULD DIE IN A HOSPITAL!" Looking as if she was about to pass out due to lack of oxygen, Fidget took in a deep breath and was about to continue screeching at Connor but Connor quickly said, "We're from the future, our body anatomy is slightly different then yours…if I'm right—pray that I am—she'll be nearly completely healed by morning…"

"…Well…well, you should…uh…well you should at least be at the hospital with her," finished Fidget and she stormed off. Connor was going to laugh but Grinder said, "Do you mean that humans have evolved into something different in the future?" Now Connor **did** laugh. "You aren't very bright," he said, "evolution was disproved back in 1999, just so you know and, no, we…well, I don't want to explain it to you because things might change." 

Alex's eyes drifted around the room out of boredom and noticed a flashing red light below a chair under the table…he had a strange feeling that something wasn't right and bent down to look at it…, "Guys I think that we should get outside…shit, **NOW**." Alex had learned a long time ago what a timer was and the timer read '00:04'. Fidget came from her room, an angry expression and a red face said she was still thinking about Connor's being a jerk. They all started running outside when Connor asked, "What about the other guy…uh…" "Ricky's," replied Alex, "He's at a conference right now, looking for better paying sponsors, now RUN!" They ran and made it to the open cargo bay when—

Suddenly there was an explosion, heat seared the back's of Team X-treme and Connor, and they were lifted off their feet, flying away from the plane. Connor felt himself hit the concrete in satirical pain and rolled on the parking lot's rough ground for several seconds…he felt himself bleeding in a few places and tried to ignore the pain as he crawled to his knees. Alex Mann looked up from where the explosion had came from and groaned out of pain and shock. Grinder was rendered unconscious during his flight from the explosion, for he had been flung into a nearby telephone pole. Fidget's head was bleeding from shrapnel and she was mumbling something along the lines of, "Let me at him…I can—OW—take him…," then collapsed, slipping into a dark sleep.

Connor got to his feet and found that he was cut up and scraped in all places but that wasn't anything compared to what had happened to Big-Air… There was nothing left. A wing was on the other side of the parking lot and there were several other pieces of noticeable parts around the lot but where Big-Air had been…nothing but a large crater and the smell of burning metal. The fire wasn't very large and could be easily contained so Connor lay back down on the cold concrete, trying to rest…_oh man…I figured we might be attacked by people but I didn't think of _bombs…

Connor's eyes looked at the full moon's sky and…, "What the hell is that," he shouted. A large aircraft, in the shape of a blimp, was moving into the skies, covering the moon. It began to descend toward the ground and Connor felt weariness begin to take him over but he fought it off and got to his feet. "Alex," Connor called, searching for his body…, "Mr. Mann, we've gotta serious problem." Connor spotted Alex getting to his feet and said, "Look up." Alex looked up and a statement of pure confusion and impiety came from his lips. 

Suddenly a young boy's voice came from the blimp, from some speakers on the outside somewhere. A young, immature boy's voice…Connor snickered when he heard it. "I am **TEMPEST** and **I** am the leader of the Council of Doom. Bow before me, Action Man, or you and your friends will be incinerated like your plastic little plane…bow…**NOW**!" Alex looked at Connor, Connor looking at Alex…and they both started laughing, causing Tempest to become his typically pissed-off self. "You doubt the power of me and the Council of Doom? **Your **mistake, Action Man," and with that, the blimp suddenly dropped and when it was about fifty feet from the ground stopped…and people dropping out of it. Quiet a few people…and after about ten seconds, about fifty people. 

Alex glanced at Connor and said, "Uh…" Connor shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can take at least ten of them, I bet…unless they're all like the woman I fought this morning…uh…" The assassins kept walking towards the remnants of Big-Air and Team X-treme.

It was then that Alex started noticing a few, rather disturbing details about the enemies. For one, they were huge, all of them at least eight feet tall and all their eyes glowed a dark red. Every one of them were very muscular and armed with all sorts of freaky looking weapons sticking out of their skin. Connor's face read 'uh oh' and Alex's 'it couldn't be'…but it was. There were almost fifty Neo-Humans progressing towards Action Man and a man supposedly from the future…_no, no way…we've got to run…no way can we take them all…_ One of them reached a piece of debris from the Big-Air, looked at it, and crunched the metal propeller into a ball of scrap…_yep, no way_. Something told him though…some instinct was saying he had seen them before…

Connor turned to run when he heard Alex yell, "No, wait! We can't leave Fidget and Grinder!" Connor hesitated and it cost him; a Neo-Human jumped from twenty feet away and crashed into Connor, slamming him onto the concrete ground. Something small cut into his back and was buried even deeper when the Neo-Human pressed harder; "Ugh…get…**off**," Connor yelled and pushed with all his might. The beast flew off of him and several feet into the air, landing a good ten yards away. Connor got to his feet and pulled what looked like a bloody piece of glass from his back. He then ran to Grinder's insentient body and scooped it up, running as fast as he could away from the advancing, vagarious-looking army. 

Alex was ahead of Connor, carrying Fidget over his broad, right shoulder and sprinting towards the dark forest. Connor followed Alex when suddenly, thanks to the glowing moon, a shadow appeared over him and he stopped running. A Neo-Human landed right where he would've been and Connor ran around it, now even further from Alex and the hopefully protective woods. Abruptly, Connor felt a powerful object strike him across his left temple and he flew to the ground, Grinder flying into the air and…into the arms of a Neo-Human. "**NO**," yelled a voice, but Connor couldn't tell who it was thanks to the silent, coldly welcoming darkness…

Alex had turned around and had seen Connor fall but knew he couldn't do anything. He might as well have surrendered but this was an army of Neo-Human's and he couldn't show any fear of them or Tempest would just—BAM! Alex was soaring the air and then—, "AAA—ooh!" He collided into the tree and fell to the ground, unaware that he had lost Fidget or of the huge hand that suddenly hit him in the face…

§

Alex woke up and was in a small cell that was obviously on Dr. X's blimp…_or should I say the Council of Doom's blimp…or is it Tempest's blimp…?_ Alex got to his feet and noticed a huge, brutal-looking Neo-Human standing outside his door. _Damn…no chances of getting out of the cell alive…those things are nasty…_

"Hey, gimme the keys and I'll pay you a few thousand dollars," whispered Alex, testing the Neo-Human's hearing. It turned and faced him, its heinous face dripping with snot and other, sticky liquids. "Ew," said Alex, even less loudly than his last comment. A roar of rage came from the ogre and it opened the jail cell's door, stepping into the small room. _Oops_, thought Alex just before it swung at him. He outmaneuvered the first two attempts to knock him out but the third came to fast and too low…Alex flew back against the wall and lost conscious… 

****

Author's Note

What up? Was any good? If there are any ways I can improve, let me know; I want this fic to be my best yet (of course, it'll be my best unless you include my fic 'Hojo Clone Chronicles'…I don't think I'll ever right something better than that). Anyway, let me know what you like and dislike. Thanx!


	7. Changing The Future

Wasteland…

Chapter 7 Changing the Future 

Connor awoke to intense pain all over his body.  He groaned as he sat up and started to take in his surroundings.  "This is great," he murmured.  He was in a cell, very similar to a jail cell.  There was one of the freaky-lookin' things outside of the cell and Connor immediately had an idea.  

  The…thing was leaning up against the bars of the cell; there weren't any keys on him but there was some kind of gun around its waist.  Connor took off his shirt and did his best to roll it into a weapon…well, sort of a weapon.  He stopped as he remembered what happened after they had come back from a war…they'd all fight in the locker rooms with towels rolled up.  Sometimes they'd take more wounds in those victory fights than they would in the war. 

  Connor's original plan was to choke the guard with his shirt but the memory of home brought on another one.  They watched holovids in the future; holovids were a step up from DVD's and were actually very popular after a skirmish or a hard training phase.  Connor remembered a comedy with the hilarious Jackie Chan…it was called something like, Sunny Noon…or…Shanghai Noon!  That's what it was.  Connor remembered what Chan had done to get out of the jail cell and…  _If a wet shirt can't break, then the guard couldn't break it while I was choking him…_

  Connor looked up at the guard and quickly 'expelled waste' onto the shirt.  Only after he had started to pee did he notice a security camera looking at him.  _Oh…that sucks.  _Connor finished anyway, and when he was done, he picked up shirt and said, "Aw that's nasty."  The guard started to turn around and Connor dropped to the floor and made it look like he was sleeping, having a dream and moving around in it or something…  After studying him for a moment, the guard turned back around.   

  Connor tranquilly got up and walked over to the sentinel.  Connor got the shirt ready and, in one quick motion, whirled around in front of the freak and grabbed onto the other side of it.  The creature immediately started struggling and, much to Connor's surprise, almost got away.  It pushed against the wall of bars and Connor's face smashed into it.  "AAA, you **_shit_**," he yelled, and then fluidly jumped up and put his body perpendicular with the floor; he was in the air, his legs pushed up against the bars, holding the guard back.  

  Connor heard the beast starting to choke and wondered how much more he could take.  _Come on Connor, keep it going, keep it going keep it going, you can—_, "AAA," he yelled as freak stopped struggling and fell to the floor.  Connor landed flat on his back, knocking the air out of him.  He looked up at the thing; it was dead, it's body still.  _Score_, Connor thought as he got back up to his feet and walked over to the dead body.   

  He reached over and pulled the gun from the holster and fired it at the monster.  It was a low-powered laser gun, probably enough to go through the bars of the cell.  Connor burned his way through the bars and, in a minute, was out of his cell.  _My shirt_, he remembered, then, _ugh, never mind_.  

  I silently made my way down the hallway, stepping lightly.  There were more cells and as I passed one, I saw movement inside of it; I turned to look and saw Alex.  "Connor," he whispered, surprised, "I thought I heard you doing something but then I heard you—''

  "Yeah, yeah, shut up."  Connor fired the laser gun at the bars and they started melting; in a minute, Alex was free and they were quietly making there way through the blimp.  Connor asked, "Where are we?"

  "I think we're on the blimp that Tempest built for Dr. X, but I'm not sure who's it is anymore, or who's here.  We need to get Grinder and Fidget first, if they're here."  _God, please don't let anything happen to Fidget_, Alex silently prayed.  Connor was thinking, _I hope Delia is alright but we need to get her first, or the future could change beyond reason…_   

  Alex and Connor heard a voice echoing down the hallway and they approached the room it was coming from, waiting outside the door.  "…Hoping it will be finished in two weeks.  Action Man will no longer be a problem when you command me to kill him.  I have him—''

  Another voice, old but obviously agitated yelled, "Finish him NOW!  The Council cannot take much more of his interference.  If he destroys this project, there will no longer be any; we'll simply launch the 2006 Project before we're prepared for it.  Perhaps our luck will benefit us later."

  Tempest's voice replied, "Yes, Xynan*; Action Man will be dead in a matter of seconds."  Connor heard a whirring noise and then Tempest's footsteps toward the doorway he was behind.  _Think **fast**_, he thought, and then quickly stepped several feet from the doorway, the direction that he and Action Man had taken was now facing them.  

  Tempest entered the hallway, his back to them.  Connor didn't hesitate.  The gun came up and then—TSEEEWW!  Tempest's head was all over the walls.  

  Alex was a little shocked at seeing Tempest dead before him but he hastily recovered.  They walked into the room that Tempest had just been in; it was the command deck of the blimp.  Above them, hanging like a chandelier, was Tempest's weather control device, and around the room were various computers and noticeably problematical machines.  

  "This way," said Alex and he jogged to one of the monitors and started typing.  "The Council of Doom has a satellite network of old satellite's that some countries don't use anymore; they use them to get Intel and monitor their agents."  Alex typed for a few more seconds and then a map popped up on the screen, a big red dot slowly getting magnified on.  It started out as a map of the world, then it zoomed into the United States, then it just went straight into a region in the state of Montana and pass that, it went to fast to tell.

  The satellite showed the image of a large diesel cruising down the highway.  A red, human-like figure was inside the back, along with two others.  "That's Fidget and Grinder, and, hopefully Delia," said Alex.  "How'd you do that," asked Connor.  Alex showed him the simple technology and Connor immediately understood how the keyboards and computers worked.  The group of three were around fifteen miles from the blimp's location, on the other side of a mountain; Tempest must've been pursuing them and was rather clever to put a mountain between himself and the truck; they wouldn't be able to see him coming.  

  "So what's the plan," Connor asked when they were finished.  

  "First, we have to somehow rescue the other's.  Then we're going to have to destroy the army of Neo-Humans.  After that, we need to figure out where the Council of Doom is and overthrow them."  

  "Then let's do it," Connor replied, typing in the calculations for their new destination.  Alex halted him, saying, "No, we can't take this blimp there; this thing is full of Neo-Humans…," Alex's face lit up as an idea came to him, "…we can find an escape ship on the blimp, destroy the blimp and meet up with Fidget and the others!"  

  Connor requested the computer bring up emergency plans and it brought up a number of displays about where to go and—there were two ships!  A cargo one carrying all the ships computers and an escape one that could seat three people…an notion appeared in Connor's mind and he spoke, "You fly the cargo plane since I'm not familiar with technology these days and I'll take the one for three; if I crash, you'll still have all of Tempest's and the Council's information."  Alex agreed and then told the computers to activate a self-destruction sequence for four minutes.

  "Password is required; please speak it now," the computers replied.  

  Alex froze and tried to think of a password that Tempest would have.  Connor looked at him with dismay; _what happens if we don't get the code word right?_  Alex said, "Action-jock sucks."  The computers made a whirring noise and a few beeps were heard…then, "We're sorry, that's incorrect.  WARNING, WARNING!!  INTRUDERS ON BRIDGE, INTRUDERS ON BRIDGE!!  SELF-DESTRUCTING SEQUENCE ACTIVATED!  TWO MINUTES UNTIL CRASH LANDING!!" 

  "Oh shit," Alex said, then thought, _wait a minute…_   Then he laughed and smiled, yelling, "Let's get outta here!"  Connor had been looking at direction to where the escape ships were so he led the way through the blimp.  They ran past Tempest's dead body and past the cells they had been in, and then they reached the cages where the Neo-Humans were.  They were in a shipment bay, all of them in cages and cells, roaring at the sight of Action Man and his friend.  They tried to break through the bars and cages they were in but it was obvious that the barred enclosures were made out of extremely hard metals; the Neo-Humans couldn't move them and it really pissed 'em off.  

  "30 SECONDS UNTIL CRASH LANDING!!  LESS THAN 20 BEFORE ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE!!  RECOMMEND ESCAPING SHIP NOW!!"  Alex Mann almost laughed; it was obvious that after Dr. X was defeated that Tempest had reprogrammed a lot of things about the ship; for example, it had a dire sense of humor and Alex never thought Tempest had one.  Alex and Connor kept running and they finally reached the escape ships.  Connor jumped into his while Alex got his engine going; "Good luck," Alex yelled as his ship started to lift off the ground; Connor couldn't hear him over the screaming engines.  Connor activated the ship's computers and engines and gently took hold of the direction control, otherwise known as a joystick.  The bay's doors opened to reveal land below them, rushing up fast.  

  That got Connor going real fast; he slammed on the 'speed increase' button and, just before he left the blimp, he faintly heard the computers say, "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE; LESS THAN TEN SECONDS LEFT.  GOODBYE ACTION-JOCK!"  Connor laughed, then focused; the altitude he was at was 2000 feet and dropping swiftly.  He pulled back on the joystick and the plane started to even itself out but it was going fast enough.  The second Connor wasn't under the blimp anymore he pushed the 'speed decrease' button and his attempt to go up was a lot more successful; the plane was parallel with the ground at 26 feet…and before Connor could react, his left wing clipped a huge pine tree.  

  Connor went into a spin and tried to pull up some more but it only resulted in a faster spin; the G-forces were getting to his head and he was starting to black out when some part of the plane hit another tree and—CRASH!  The plane bounced off the ground and Connor opened his eyes just in time to see a hill in front of him before—

§

Alex watched in horror from a few hundred feet away; Connor's aircraft was going at least two hundred miles-an-hour when he slammed into the hill…Alex's plane tilted and he flew on…  When the smoke cleared, the plane wasn't even visible; no telling how deep into the hill it had gone and—

  There was a huge explosion and the shockwave crashed into the Alex's plane like a wrecking ball; Alex flew from his seat and just as his body crashed into the control panels, another explosion and shock wave occurred and Alex was launched from the front of the cockpit back to the bay of the small cargo jet.  He tried to get back to his feet and his hand instinctively reached for a wound on his head; surprising him, his hand felt the soft, mushy wetness of flesh and he realized his head had been busted open.  _Oh shit_, he thought and tried to reach the cockpit but he kept on blacking out for a split-second, then waking up and then blacking out and then…

  In a few more seconds, Alex managed to land/crash the plan, the impact violently sending him to the back of the plane again, causing him to lose consciousness altogether…

§

"What the hell was that," Fidget asked when she and Grinder heard the first explosion.  Before Grinder could even shrug his shoulders in lack of knowledge, there was another one, even more louder than the first.  "_Damn_, what the hell was that?!"  Delia stirred in her sleep but stayed in the deep sleep she had been in…

  Grinder pulled the truck that they had stolen over to the side of the road and got out to look around.  It sounded like it had been far but extremely powerful…  "There," he said when Fidget had met up with him, and pointed to a huge column of smoke that was arising from the opposite side of the nearby mountain; "Man, something **big** had to've something like that," Grinder observed, and then continued, "I think we oughta check it out, eh mate?"

  Fidget raised an eyebrow and tilted her head and said, "Well…yeah, we ain't got anything better to do; as long as I have my camera!"  Grinder smiled and then looked back at the diesel and thought, _better look at the map for roads around or over the mountain…_

§

The blimp was mostly destroyed but the part of it that remained integral was standing at a 90-degree angle from the ground, like a fallen tower.

  A few hours later, Fidget was running towards the wreckage of the blimp, screaming Alex's name and expecting to find his dead body somewhere in the debris.  Delia was walking numbly among the site, already knowing that Connor was dead; she had known the second she had seen the crash site from the mountain that Connor was dead…it was obvious to her but she kept silent, letting the other two have their hope…  There was the main crash site, which was spread out over a mile, full of debris and metal all over the place; then Delia had noticed that there was a small, tiny column of smoke arising from some spot on a hill…  She still had to think about it until she saw another small plane, still intact, in another area too far from the main wreckage to be a part of it and then it hit her; Connor and Alex had been taken and there were three plane crashes…

  Delia knew that Connor would've escaped by whatever means necessary and she figured that he'd let Alex take the more important plane and if one of the planes was cargo one, like the third one she'd seen…

  It was now that the tears came, when she had found the hole in the hill; she was crying unbelievably hard when she had looked down the hole to see…the other side of it and a tiny plane in the distance.  She cried out and jumped to her feet and started sprinting to the other side of the hill; when she reached the top of it, she saw what was left of the plane and her hope was diminished greatly.  The wings were nowhere to be seen and the cockpit was…hardly even a cockpit…and, as she ran closer, she saw a tanned arm hanging out the side of the cockpit, little streams of blood running down and dripping off of it.  

  Delia screamed Connor's name and didn't stop until she reached him…the windshield had splashed its shards all over his body and blood seemed to be everywhere but it was the very sluggish, rhythmic rise and fall of his chest that caused to smile and cry in a sudden wave of relief and happiness.  She started to bend down, to pick him up and then realized that that could be lethal to him…_there's too much blood everywhere so I know he needs blood but I can't…_  She concluded that she had to get him out of the cockpit.  

  Delia unbuckled him and very tenderly pulled him from the wreckage, carrying him back to where they had parked the truck; there was a first-aid kit that they had prepared on the way to the crash site.  She was getting blood all over her but it didn't matter but something hit her as she was softly carrying Connor's body to the diesel truck, which was still a half-mile away: _I didn't know I cared for him this much…_then, _I didn't know I…actually **loved** him…_  And she cried tears of joy at the discovery she had found…

§

Meanwhile, Fidget and Grinder had found Alex's body and awaken him; he was way too weak to talk or communicate in any way but Grinder did a quick check on Alex and concluded that Alex had probably suffered a concussion (it was rather obvious with the gaping whole in his head), that he had lost a lot of blood, and that he needed some water as soon as it was available.  

  "Okay, Fidget," Grinder said, "You stay here with Alex and **don't** move him, no matter what, don't let him move, okay?  I'm going to the nearest city and getting supplies with the money that was left in the truck.  I'll be back in less than an hour.  Just talk to him, and keep him awake, 'kay mate?"  …And with that, Grinder took off for the truck, running as fast as he could…

  Fidget watched him run for a few seconds and then turned her face back to Alex Mann, the one she loved.  She cradled him in her lap and spoke to him softly, comforting him and telling him everything would be okay, even though she had clandestinely lost hope…

§

Delia was bandaging Connor's wounds when Grinder was suddenly upon her and climbing into the truck; "You alright, mate," he breathlessly asked before starting the engine.  "How is he," he inquired again before she could answer and Delia spoke without taking her eyes from Connor's, "I truly don't know."  

  Grinder nodded in understanding, then drove off, leaving her in the dust, alone to cry and soak Connor's shredded shirt with her tears…  

§

Fidget heard some footsteps in the dirt and raised her voice, "Delia?" In reply, Fidget heard a muffled grunt and her eyebrows arose with fear, her thoughts: _no, not now_.  A lone, bleeding Neo-Human stumbled past the opening in the plane and walked by without looking at Fidget and without incident.  

  Adrenaline was flowing through her faster than her heart could ever pump blood; _what if it comes back_, she thought with fear…and as if in an answer to her thoughts, it came stumbling back into view.  It's eyes looked at Fidget with a look of…hunger…  It moaned and started towards her, and it stopped suddenly, it's eyes locked onto Alex.  It lamented again and started walking towards Alex's body, like a zombie with it's arms outstretched and reaching for Alex.  "NO," Fidget cried out and grabbed a nearby piece of scrap metal; she got to her feet and swung it at the Neo-Human with ferocity she didn't know she had in her.  

  The metal whacked the Neo-Human on the side of the head and it crumpled at Fidget's feet.  She stepped back in disgust, and then reached down to move Alex away but remembered Grinder's words; _…no matter what, don't let him move, okay…_  

  So Fidget overran her pride and started to pull the unconscious Neo-Human away from Alex when it suddenly reached up with a fist and slammed her face like a brick.  "AAA," Fidget screamed out in pain and fell back on the ground, her nose gushing, literally gushing blood all over the place.  Before she could get to her feet and counterattack, the freak of Dr. X kicked her in the stomach and she flew into the air, only to land flat on her belly in another second, the wind knocked out of her…

  The Neo-Human then grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her off of her stomach and onto her back, the _thing_ wanting to hear her scream in agony; Fidget somehow gathered enough will over the pain to focus a kick on the Neo-Human's left leg.  

  The leg broke under the intensity of the kick and the creature howled in pain and started to run away; it forgot about the pain, it just knew that it had to get away before the girl killed him…

  Fidget was too beat up to chase it and finish it…


	8. The Change

Wasteland…

Part 2: The Future Chapter 8 The Change 

Grinder sped along the streets, flying back towards the crash site.  No one in the town had heard about the blimp but that was going to change very soon; Grinder passed a farm on the way to the settlement and, in the rearview mirror, the blimp was very visible, it's back half protruding from the ground at an angle.  Grinder had more than enough supplies that he had picked up at the small town's general store; providentially, there had been over two-hundred dollars in the truck when they had stolen it and Grinder suspected that there was more hidden somewhere but he'd worry about that later.

  He looked at the speedometer and saw he was speeding at ninety miles-an-hour and a mental battle started in his mind; on one hand he could speed and get there sooner, which may make all the difference to one of their lives…  And on the other hand he wouldn't speed so that no one would think anything of him; that might possibly buy them more time to get Alex and Connor patched up and away before authorities could get there…

  Grinder kept speeding, hoping that he wouldn't run into any local law enforcement…

§

Delia was talking to Fidget and Alex when Grinder returned with medical provisions for Alex and Connor; Delia had seen Fidget get her ass kicked by the Neo-Human but was too far away to help so she brought Connor over to her and Alex after the Neo-Human wandered away.

  "Hey mates," Grinder said and then started distributing the equipment to Delia and Fidget; Delia extracted as much of the glass as she could and Fidget stopped Alex's bleeding in the head.  Grinder had a distressing face as he watched Fidget and when she was done he said, "He's hemorrhaging which means that—_what the **hell**?!?!?!_"  He interrupted himself when he shot a quick glance at Delia and Connor.  Something was happening to them…

  They were glowing…not only glowing, but parts of them were disappearing and then reappearing…, "Uh, mate, we got problems."  Delia shouted Connor's name and rushed to him, then realized it was happening to her too.  Connor opened his eyes and was immediately ready to panic but he kept himself under control; ideas were flying through his head as to what was happening but only one seemed to stand out…_they were about to return to the future…_  "Delia," he said, "we're about to go back…," his voice was light and was barely audible…but she knew what he was saying. 

  Delia looked at Alex and almost screamed…the same things were happening to Team X-treme.  She turned to tell Connor but his grim eyes were looking at them already; "What do we do," she shouted.  As she spoke, wind suddenly gusted and sent sand up and around and—Delia felt something smack her in the back of the head and then start to grind into it; it didn't hurt but it felt…Delia blacked out…

  Fidget screamed as blue swirls of light began to surround her, moving impossibly fast to the eye and then they started to slow down and…she was in nowhere; she was standing on nothing and the only thing around her was darkness and—Alex materialized, then Delia, lying on the black and the back of her head bleeding.  Connor was suddenly there, crawling towards her and then—Fidget suddenly felt like she was being sucked down into nothing but then…a scene appeared below her, as if she were a few miles up and falling much faster than she should've been; as if she were being sucked toward the ground.

  All of a sudden the ground was upon her and she landed gently on her feet but feeling very lightheaded…and…Fidget started to slump down and she tried to fight it but….her legs gave out and she fell to the ground, unconscious.  Connor, remembering what happened last time did his best to fight off the horrible numbness that came after the first time he time-traveled but this time it didn't come; not at all…  Connor got to his feet and then realized that his wounds were gone and the hit Delia had taken on the back of her head was gone…_I'm never doing this again_, Connor thought and then started trying to wake Delia.

  It was night and the moon was new…they had landed in a trench, some kind of war trench that had been dug not too long ago; Connor had experience in this sort of thing so he knew…and then he realized he was in serious trouble…  This trench was dug for defensive purposes; and it was relatively fresh too; couldn't have been dug more than five or six hours ago…when the Remnants built a trench like this one it's usually about…six or seven hours before an attack on the island.  

  _There's about to be a huge battle_, Connor concluded and then climbed a wall of the eight-foot deep trench to take a quick look around…  He could see the ocean and that he was on one of the wasteland islands; most likely a Remnant one but what didn't make sense was that there was no one in sight…as he thought that, a light appeared in the mist over the ocean.  Very faint and probably rather far but—another one.  Then another and another until they started appearing like lightning bugs.  _Oh no_, Connor realized that that was the attacking army and that…  Sirens started blaring on the island he was on and suddenly people's voices were heard in the distance.  The battle was beginning and Connor had no idea what to do.

§

Grinder blinked a few times and suddenly his legs gave out from under him.  He collapsed to the ground and tried to comprehend what he had just seen but the very idea of it was illusory; the group had just disappeared from his eyes after starting to glow and then blink in and out of vision, and having blue swirls of light fly around them…

  And then they were gone…Grinder could only hope things were gonna be alright, especially his friends…

§

The sirens awoke the group, which now consisted of Alex, Fidget, Connor, and Delia.  They gathered in a circle in the trench and Connor estimated that they had two minutes before the trenches were going to be full of troops ready to shoot anyone they didn't recognize; "Okay, first things first, we've got to get ourselves to a detoxication facility; we aren't in suits and this air is contaminated.  If you start to turn blue, you're going to die and there's no hope for you."

  Fidget's eyebrows rose but she didn't say anything; without the other two noticing, she slipped her hand into Alex's and he gently squeezed her.  Connor continued, "These wars are vicious; we need cover and we need it from both armies—," he paused and then spoke again, "Delia, watch the transports coming in from the ocean and see what army they are."  She nodded and got up while Connor continued, "We need to find a way into this island's base."

  "How do you know this is an island," Alex asked and Connor hesitated and then…, "Oh…no…everything could be different.  This could be a completely different war that we're in the middle of; this air might not even be noxious…  I don't even know what year we're in…" He sunk to his knees and mumbled, "Oh man."  Delia suddenly was back and said, "It's China and they have something I haven't ever seen on the transports; come look."  Connor got up and went to look at the transports; only one was out of the miasma completely and it was only, now, a hundred yards from the shore…and the peculiar thing about it was that it had a some kind of oddly-shaped device but Connor instinctively knew what it was; there had been rumors floating through the Remnant's army about a protonic-cannon but it was dismissed after awhile.  

  There was a light atop the cannon and that same light was on top of the rest of the transports.  They were going to rip this island's army apart.  "Oh man, oh man, oh man," was about all Connor could say for a few seconds…then he regained himself and looked behind him, at the island.  A light had been switched on and it showed a flag, fluttering in the night's placid breeze; it was the Remnant's flag.  "YES," Connor shouted, but then quickly realized that it didn't matter; if they had changed the future in any way, they might not be recognized and…  "SHIT!"  Nothing made any difference because they couldn't take chances; "Alright," Connor said, quickly getting into his military mode; he saw what looked like the beginning of a small forest at the end of the trench and he pointed and said, "Run!  Follow me!"

 They ran as fast as they could through the dark trench but when they were getting close to the small forest Connor looked behind him and saw soldiers appearing from the darkness inward of the island; the trenches were getting filled.  "Faster," he panted and gave the run a hundred percent, hoping they wouldn't be spotted.  They made it to the forest and ran through it until they found a big enough tree to climb and hide in.  It was dark and the branches were black with burns from previous battles but the adrenaline and keen senses kept the group of four moving.  It was only a few minutes after escaping the trench that Connor realized he had to be at least forty feet off the ground in the huge tree.  He stopped and they stopped behind him and tried to catch their breath.  

  Connor told Alex, who was last, to climb back down a bit to a spot where part of tree branched into several other huge limbs.  Alex did so and eventually they had a spot where they could all sit and watch the battle from afar; they were probably only a good hundred and fifty yards from the trench they had run from so they had a somewhat diminutive vision of the battle.  The Chinese lined up their transports parallel to the shore and then started to commence; by that time the trenches had been filled and several turrets on the island were armed, not to mention the many snipers that were probably all over the place.  

  Connor was nervous; it was obvious that the war had still taken place and that meant that the mission he and Delia were assigned hadn't been accomplished (and that really pissed him off)…but if the war had still taken place, then that meant that the air was still venomous to the human body and that meant that they were breathing it…  It smelled a little bit strange and actually tasted in the mouth a little bit…but there was nothing he could do about it.  

  There was silence in the air and the Chinese transports sat, unmoving but obviously ready to attack and commence with the plan; you see, the battles in the War of the Wastelands were always extremely complex.  The slightest change in an island's geography and the whole attack strategy would have to be changed because the island isn't connected to the ocean floor.  After all, how could the continent be blown into the little islands without the ground losing its foundation?  The ocean slipped in after the nukes hit and, eventually, most, if not all of the islands were no longer attached.  They were free-floating; which meant that the land could give way.  

  What made the strategies even more complicated was that some armies would just want an island to sink so they send subs to blow it from the bottom so there are—if the army is smart—underwater defenses too, such as mines, divers, subs, security nets and turrets.  And there's always the air part of the battle; that too, is complicated because there are only two aircraft that've been developed to take the radiation in the air through the engines; fortunately, they're rare and can't do much **but** they can make all the difference in a campaign.  The mêlée's the modern times were very strategic and problematical.  You had to be extremely good commanding officer to even win a battle, let alone take over an island.  

  The silence was broken as the eleven of the fourteen transports all fired their protonic cannons on the shore.  The shots were loud and the light seared through the defending soldiers and turrets; the transports must've been just barely out of range of the turrets, otherwise the hovercraft would've been eliminated.  The island vibrated in reaction to the blasts and Connor hoped it wasn't going to sink; the Chinese commander was taking a serious chance in firing the cannons.  The transports all propelled themselves toward the islands, taking fire from the armed forces against them.  Connor guess that since the three of the transports didn't fire their cannons that the guns could only be fired once every so often.  A turret that hadn't been blown fired at one of the transports and it was lit up into a ball of fire.  The scene reminded Connor of an old vid he watched back before he time traveled; it was called 'Saving Private Ryan' and was a very monumental movie.  

  One of the last three cannons fired and the turret was obliterated from the island, as were its operators.  There were six more turrets, if Connor remembered right and he did; the last two cannons fired their shots at them but four remained firing at the transports, one shot every fifteen to twenty-five seconds.  Eight of the transports beached the shore and opened their doors, their troops rushing out and taking their planned locations.  The island was now constantly lit up with quick bursts of firepower from all over the place.  

  Connor was making calculations and saw that if the Chinese kept up what they were doing, the battle was to be long.  The Chinese were digging trenches!  They were planning on staying for a while which could only mean one thing; they were expecting reinforcements…Connor's mind worked quickly as he started to figure out what the Chinese were up to.  They must've heard of the TFP and want to take the island.  _But how could they expect to take the island, even if they were expecting reinforcements?_

  After dwelling on the thought for a moment, Connor knew what was going to happen.  The Remnant's were going to exhaust their supplies on the force that was already on the island and then the reinforcements would come in and…annihilate the Remnants…  Oh man…  Connor started simulating things he could do to stop it but all of them involved possible encounters with someone that wouldn't recognize him…

  Alex and Fidget were murmuring to each other as the battle started…Alex was saying, "…So…what do we do now?"  Fidget shrugged and rested her head on Alex's shoulder, replying, "I think that that's up to Connor…Alex…"  

  "Yeah?"  She smiled, knowing he couldn't see it; "Do you think that there's a chance that…you…you and me might…be worth something together?"  _YES, I SAID IT!  I **finally** got it out.  I didn't screw it up!  Woo-HOO!  Wait…what's he going to say?_  Her head rose and fell as Alex sighed a heavy sigh and whispered in return, "I've been asking that myself since we've been a part of Team X-treme."  _YYYYEEEEEESSSS!!!!!_

§

Ricky was on a plane flying back to Europe from the conference in NYC when he heard the news about Team X-treme being blown up in a supposed engine malfunction of their plane Big Air.  About two minutes after he had heard the news, a stewardess walked to him and said, "Sir, you have a phone call; here's the receiver.  If you'd like privacy, follow me and I'll take you to a small room."  

  Ricky looked at the phone and got up to follow her; his face was already pale and getting even whiter from the news about the now-deceased Team X-treme…they were his friends and his co-workers…they were his life, really.  And now they were gone.  Dead from an engine malfunction on Big Air…_wait a minute_, he thought.  Engine malfunction on Big Air, with Grinder?  "That's BULLSHIT," he yelled.

  The stewardess turned and stared at him, as did everyone in his or her seats.  "Oops, sorry…hehe…Let's go," he said to the stewardess and she slowly started to walk again…

  They reached the room, which was actually just the stewardess's break room; she left him alone and he helped himself to some coffee before bringing the phone to his ear.  "Hello," he said in a squeaky voice.  "Ricky?  This is Diana, from INTERCEPT.  How are you doing?"  Before giving him a chance to reply she continued talking, "I take it you've heard the news?"

  Ricky slowly sat down in a chair at the small table and responded with, "Just a few moments ago…it wasn't a malfunction, was it?"  

  "No, of course not.  In fact, we're completely positive that they're still alive.  It's just a matter of where in the world they are and how they got there and if they're okay."  

  "That makes me feel great," Ricky lied, his voice saturated with sarcasm.  Diana pretended not to notice and said in a hesitant voice, "Alex never mentioned…Dr. X still being alive…did he?"  This hit Ricky like a brick; he remembered all to well what happened to Dr. X and his followers when they had fought their final battle.  "No.  Dr. X is dead, **I** watched him die…that was a…very bad day."

  "…Yeah, whatever.  Anyway, Dr. X's blimp was found; it crashed and there are no survivors in the area except…Grinder."

  "GRINDER!!  Ishethereletmetalktohimisheokayyou'renotlyingareyoubecau—," Ricky started talking a million miles an hour but Diana shut him up.  "Shut up…damn…  He's fine and he'll be there, back in Europe after we're done with him.  He's told me to tell you that you can stay at his 'pad' and wait for him there."

  "Oh, tell him thanks, okay?"  

  "Yeah, whatever.  Anyway, I have to get back to work.  Just giving you the news, Ricky."  He was about to say thank you but a click interrupted him and the line was silent.  

**Author's Note**

How's the fic coming?  Better or worse?


	9. The Change

Wasteland…

Part 2: The Future Chapter 9 The Change 

Delia, despite the battle's loud noises and constant concussions was starting to drift into sleep, using Connor's shoulder as a pillow when he moved slightly and said, "We have to go to the Remnant's base.  If we don't, the Chinese are going to take the island and we're going to be taken prisoner—or worse."  Delia started to rouse herself and she sat up, watching the gunfire bursts of light.  

  Alex and Fidget both looked up and Alex said, "Whatever you think we should do is what we'll do.  You've seen our ball game; this one's yours.  Past and…I guess, yeah, future."  Fidget sat up, yawning and started to look up when she thought she heard some leaves rustle behind her; before she could turn to look she felt a small, circular piece of cold metal on the back of her neck and she froze.  

  "Don't move or pretty face is blown all over the place," came a muffled voice from behind her and Alex; none of them moved but Connor spoke, "My name is Connor.  I was with the TFP and so was Delia here—," Connor started to explain but the guy interrupted, saying, "Connor?!  That's you?  Damn man, I thought you were toast after what happened to Dare.  That fool got ripped apart so I figured you did too."

  "Blake," Connor asked and the guy behind Fidget said, "Hell yeah, man!  Did the TFP actually—," he started but Connor immediately interrupted him, saying, "Hey, I need to talk to the General **now**.  I know what the Chinese are up to and the sooner I get to him, the likelier it is that you're going to be alive next week.  Come on, let's go.  Oh, and those two are with me; they're trustworthy and on our side."  

  The steel was gone and Blake said, his voice now much more serious, "Alright, let's move."  Fidget stood up and followed Blake, right behind her was Delia and—

  "What's that," Alex asked, pointing at an object that was barely visible on the ocean.  Connor looked closely and turret-fire flashed, revealing a transport sneaking up on the island; it didn't have its lights on and was probably navigating with the battle lights.  "Oh man," Connor said, his mind racing; _that transport probably has snipers ready to be deployed into the forest; we have automated defenses in the forest but not for that many people…if they get those snipers in…the Remnant's would lose to the army that's already on the island!_  "Blake, we gotta move **fast**.  The battle on the shore is just a distraction!"  

  The armored figure that was scrambling down the tree instantly knew what that meant.  "Ah shit, we're screwed."  They were about twenty feet up and he just jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground, rolling a few yards and then jumping to his feet.  The group of four climbed down to ten feet and jumped out, then sprinted up through the small patch of woods up to the base that was on the other side of the hill.  

  "First things first," Blake yelled as they ran, "we have to get you to a detoxication facility inside, otherwise you're gonna die before you can tell us anything."  Connor replied as they ran, "How long will that take?"

  Blake yelled through his metal mask, "About an hour or two, depending on how stable the power generator's are inside the base."  Connor yelled a curse and said, "That's too long; we might all be dead by then; the Chinese are going after the TFP.  We can't stop them unless I get to the General as soon as possible."  Blake shook his head but couldn't answer for a moment; "No way; they've already thrown…everything they've got at us…on the shores and on that sneak…transport; we'll…get them…no matter what.  They…had a…plan but we…screwed them at…the beginning…so they just…dug…those trenches."  His breath was short now and Connor said, "Save your breath.  That's…what they want you to think.  I'll…explain…when we get…inside."

  Blake was sprinting way ahead of them but for some reason, the group of four couldn't run as fast.  _The radiation is starting to kill our muscles,_ Connor thought.  They sprinted down to the entrance to the underground military location and entered through a secured area.  Connor and Delia were immediately recognized and were taken, by Connor's request, straight to the command center where the General was commanding his legion.  At the sight of Connor he jumped and then started to say something but Connor cut him off by saying, "Excuse my disobedience, sir, but we're gonna lose this island unless you listen to me, and listen to me now."  The room went silent except for incoming communications from soldiers in the field.  

  "Alright Lt. Connor, let's hear it, but first, get these other three to the detoxication facility; I believe Connor would refuse until he's explained himself.  Right?"  Connor nodded and then walked over to the overview of the map and started to show the General what was going to happen…

§

A few minutes later, the gunfire from the defending forces stopped.  The Chinese stopped countering and sat in their small trenches, awaiting their next order from their commander, who was in the transport that had snuck in.  All of a sudden, one of the turrets fired into the pitch-black darkness of the ocean and a moment later, a great ball of fire erupted into the air, followed by a loud concussion to the ears.  

  In the woods, the fifteen snipers that had spread out to secure the area stood motionless and in awe at the sight that beheld them…their commander were dead and the other fifty snipers were now obsolete…

§

In the detoxication facility, Delia and Fidget had been put in one room while Alex went into another.  Workers immediately went to work on them, placing needles into their veins and into any muscle that was bigger than your thumb (needless to say, the process wasn't favorable).  The radiation in the air gets into your body and starts to cut off circulation to your muscles, which causes them to deteriorate at lethal speeds (the radiation causes most of the deterioration).  The needles release small parasites that can't hurt the human body; the parasites seek out any radiation cells and form a parasitic relationship with them, causing the radiation to become harmless; the parasites slowly begin to die out because there were enzymes that were in the syringes and needles spread too thin throughout the body for the parasites to stay alive.

  Delia and Fidget were talking quietly, trying to figure out how they had suddenly returned, and with more than they went with…but Delia seemed distant to Fidget so she asked what she knew was on her mind.

  "Worried about Connor?"  There was an explosion and the room shook slightly and Fidget made a face.  Delia answered, "Yes…I never knew I even liked him until this mission and then my eyes seemed to just…I don't know, open.  It's strange…"  

  "Not really," replied Fidget, trying to hold back some energy that was flowing through her; her body stung every time she used a muscle that had a needle in it.  "Same thing happened with me and I never knew; I mean, I liked Alex and all but I never thought I did in the way that he's liked me—," she smiled a big smile, "—ever since we've been working together."  Delia would've laughed but it hurt too much to.  "Yeah, funny how it takes life-threatening experiences to awaken some of your hidden emotions."  

  "HA," declared Fidget, "it ain't like that for me sister.  Me and Alex had life-threatening experiences nearly every day we're alive; it's our job.  It's not really the experiences…it's what you feel **during** the events that counts; I was always too busy rolling the camera to actually notice how dangerous some of the stuff we were doing was.  I guess I didn't care…or did I?…" Fidget wandered off into some deep thought and Delia let her think.   

  _I hope Connor comes back soon…I don't want him to die, please don't die…_

§

Meanwhile, Alex and Connor were sitting in the other room together, laughing about how the other two were probably fretting over Connor still being in the command center; truth was, he returned about five or ten minutes after they left because the General wanted Connor in the field as soon as possible.  

  The General figured out how to counter the Chinese's strategy, though it was extremely risky; the Remnant's had a missile sub that could only fire when above water so they decided to deploy it and launch the missiles into the air and either flush the Chinese out of the trenches or blow them up if they stay.  A moment ago there was a very loud explosion and the room shook and Connor said, "That must be the first missile; man I hope it works…if it doesn't we're going to have to try some even riskier stuff."  

  Alex was tempted to ask but didn't; instead, he asked, "So…fill me in on what's happening and everything.  I know you explained everything to me already but…the circumstances were a bit different and you can't really blame us for thinking you escaped from the asylum."

  Connor smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "Well…there was a nuclear war and North America, Europe, and part of Africa were wiped out.  Now, as a result of that war, North America is now just a bunch of scattered, small islands; the land got blown apart where a missile hit.  The science of how it happened is complicated…but that was soon forgotten when an environmental scientist and a radiologist stumbled upon a secret of the nuclear blast area; the radiation could be used as a power source."

  Connor paused, watching Alex and seeing if he could figure out the result for himself but Alex was obviously waiting for Connor to continue, so he did.  "The war was quickly over and done as several countries rushed to the wastelands to harness the energy source."

  "Why," asked Alex, "I mean, what's the point of using the energy source if the rest of the surviving world already has enough power plants and reactors and stuff."  

  "Because this power source is infinitely more powerful than everything we've had before.  And if a country monopolized the energy source and then destroyed all the other power sources in the world, they would own the planet.  Electricity is an expensive resource in these times because of the nuclear shields and all the defenses that the countries put up after the nuclear war…  So to take you to the present, we are the Remnants; we're just trying to find a way to end it all, to end the killing and wars.  But, of course, we're also the weakest army of all those that are left fighting for the wasteland.  There were at least twenty countries/armies that rushed to the wasteland but most were easily obliterated by those that are still fighting today…"

  Alex sat in silence, trying to imagine the world going into a nuclear war.  Amazing yet so tragic…Alex spoke, "So why are the Chinese attacking you?"  

  "They want the island and the technology we possess…but that ain't happening.  No way; everyone on the island would rather die than let the Chinese have what we have.  Things are getting rough…lately, before we went your time, I've been feeling that this war is going to be making a very dramatic turn…  But the thing that doesn't make any sense at all is that there's an army that's fighting in the wastelands that is a lot like the ones that invaded your plane, back in your time.  They were on the blimp too…but how can that be?"

  Alex Mann froze when he heard this…there was an army of Neo-Humans here in the future, fighting for the wastelands…Tempest certainly isn't capable of leading an army and surviving…  Asazi; _no, she's dead, I killed her…_  The thought brought a sad coldness to his heart…he never did get over killing her…pushing her off the ledge, even though she was defenseless…_no, she wasn't defenseless; it was **her**, she knew martial arts and all that…she would've put you over the ledge of the canyon…_ That's what Alex kept telling himself but it never helped.  

  He was guilty of murder.  Murder…not death, he actually killed someone…someone he knew…and the worst part…it wasn't an accident…  The tears of guilt stung his eyes but he fought them away.  _Back to the present…_  

  The only person capable of strategically and successfully running an army Neo-Humans was…Dr. X.  But…how could he've survived?  He dropped off the canyon and fell to the bottom…how could he have survived?  It was a four hundred foot drop…perhaps it's his Council of Doom that—no, INTERCEPT blew them apart after information was found from X's last hideout…_doesn't make sense_…  

  "What's going on in your mind," Connor asked gently, knowing that Alex was in some seriously deep thought; Alex glanced up and said, "There was a…a scientist back in the year that I was in that created those Neo-Humans, those monsters.  Only he could lead them but I killed him and all of his accomplices…well…no, I didn't.  A special agency, INTERCEPT, finished off all of Dr. X's sources but…what doesn't make sense is that I killed X and most of his counterparts—''

  "Whoa, hold on now…you didn't kill all of them?"  

  Alex shrugged his shoulders and said, "There was a mad scientist, 'Gangreen', but he…he couldn't…no, he's not capable of surviving on his own; he probably retreated to a jungle to come up with some evil projects he'll never do…hopefully…"

  Connor shook his head and said, "You've underestimated him.  I'll bet that he's leading the Neo-Humans as we speak; the mad ones are usually the more successful ones…" As much as it made Alex angry that he was wrong about something, he had to accept that Connor was probably accurate.  Chances are that Gangreen took over the position he had probably been secretly coveting; X's army…

  "Well," Connor started, "let's let our minds and bodies forget about this and rest…because I get the feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day…" Alex agreed and they both leaned back on the little hospital-like beds they were on and feel asleep much quicker than they thought…

§

Fidget and Delia were still talking but the intensity of the conversation had dimmed tremendously; both were on the verge of sleeping when one of the medics entered the room and said quietly, "Just so you ladies know, Connor and the other guy are perfectly fine."  The two thanked the medic and then smiled in their own bliss thoughts…each of them falling asleep rather quickly, only to dream about the guys they were thinking about…

§

BREET BREET BREET BREET BREET!!!

  Connor was awake in an instant, already slapping his clothes on and ready to go.  The treatment was over and the needles had been pulled out while he and Alex had been sleeping.  Alex was up and getting dressed too, but he probably wouldn't be allowed to go where Connor was; Connor would tell the General that Alex and Fidget were okay and that they wouldn't harm anyone or anything.  Connor left the room and Alex just silently followed; Connor's mind was racing, _those are defensive alarms, which means we're under attack…did the Chinese figure out that we knew what they were doing?_  

  Connor made it to the command center but Alex wasn't allowed; knowing that Alex knew he would try later, Connor said nothing and continued to the General.  "What's happening?"  The General looked up at Connor and said, "About damn time you woke up; you've been out for nearly thirty-two hours.  It seems you were right about the Chinese but they've pulled a stunt that I don't think anybody in the world would've expected; we're under attack by that freak army of mutated assholes.  It seems they've allied with the Chinese and we're under some serious pressure."  

  Connor replied, "They're called Neo-Humans, sir, and can you show me what's happening outside."  Connor was obviously going to stay with the General, after all, his logic with the Chinese' strategy was brilliant, or so the General said.  The General wanted Connor with him, so he could anticipate what might happen next.  

  Connor looked at the holographic map of the island and what was going on.  The General was right; they were under some serious pressure and…Connor knew it was hopeless.  The island couldn't defend itself against an army of Neo-Humans; especially if they could do the damage that they did back in Alex's time, because now they'd be even stronger and better…_no, there has to be a way.  There's always a way.  _Connor studied the map carefully, noting everything that might be able to help their survival.  

  The Neo-Humans were attacking by an amphibious assault; obviously they could swim for awhile because the nearest island was over ten miles away…not only that, but they had to be—all of a sudden the holographic picture of the island disappeared and was replaced with an image of a middle-aged man, with brown hair and technological additions all over him.  Everyone in the room was silent by the time he spoke, "Greetings, General of the Remnants.  It must be obvious to you by now that your island is going to be either destroyed or captured by the small army that is invading it at the moment.  I ask you, first, to surrender and I would gladly relocate you to another island that has much better strategic defenses and resources…if not, then I'm afraid to say that you are going to be easily defeated, no matter what battle plans you might think of.  Oh, yes, and my name is Dr. X.  I myself am approaching the island in a hovercraft as we speak, to help make negotiations.  I have…how might you say…near-infinite assets that could make the Remnants the most powerful army by far.  All I ask for is the TFP.  You can surrender it to me now, or wait until I arrive for the negotiations.  By that time, your island should be under siege.  See you soon, General."

  The so-called Dr. X blinked out of and was reinstated with the island…Connor looked at the General and the he just stared back…  Eventually, Connor said, "What do we do, sir?"  

  The elder officer replied, "Something's on your mind, son.  Speak it now or we'll be in the grave.  This 'X' character is going to kill us the second he gets a damn chance."

  "Sir, I'd like to bring in the two people that came with us from the past; they've fought this guy before, many times, and know how he thinks.  And as for the soldiers outside…I have no idea."  Connor turned back to the map, watching the holographic skirmish…the Neo-Humans were easily making their way up the shoreline with the Chinese…

  Things were about to get really violent…and a lot of people were going to die…  Connor shook his head and tried to think of something to do but…it was of no avail…  

  And the Neo-Humans kept making their way, getting closer to the base…****


	10. Violence High

**Author's Note:** Hey readers, just wanted to let you know that this chapter is going to be a bit more violent than the others.  Also, this chapter is going to be longer than the others before it; a little personal '10th Chapter!!' thing for me.  I'm goofy in the head.  :P  Anywayz, enjoy and review, if you like.  Let me know if you have any ideas for it.  Supernova has given me several and though I haven't implemented them yet, I thank you for your support.  Thanks Nova!  J

Wasteland…

Part 2: The Future Chapter 10 Violence High 

Alex was pacing around when suddenly the ground shook with such force it whisked him from his feet, the sudden tremor quickly accompanied by what sounded like a large explosion.  _Man, we're in some serious trouble_, Alex thought and he clenched his hands; he felt guilty about what was going on outside; there were people dying and he was inside, all safe and sound.  He wanted to get out into that battle; he wanted to go fight, not just for himself but also for the TFP.  If it fell into the wrong hands, Earth could have some serious problems, future and past…the doors suddenly opened and Connor stepped out, motioning Alex to come over.  

  "What's going on," Alex started but Connor immediately interrupted, saying, "Listen, I told the General that you've dealt with our enemy before and now he wants your input." 

  "What?!  This is the future Connor, I haven't—''

  "You'd be surprised," he replied and then said to an officer nearby, "Bring Delia and the other girl to the command center, and hustle."  The officer complied, taking off down the hallway while Connor grabbed Alex's arm and dragged him into the control room.  "General, Alex Mann, from the past."  The General looked up and said, "Welcome to the future, Alex.  Ain't quite the happy world you thought it would be, eh?  Well, to business…we've got this army of, Connor calls them 'Neo-Humans', I myself prefer 'freaks', commanded by a guy I just met.  He calls himself Dr. X an—''

  "**What?!?!?!**"  Alex yelled and then thought for a second, and said, "I killed him a few years ago, your time.  I watched him die; Fidget—the girl that came with me—threw a grenade and X was on the edge of a canyon and it blew up and I watched him—**I **watched him fall the four-hundred feet to—''

  The General raised his hand and said, "Look, Alex, it doesn't matter what you did at that time.  What matters is that he's alive right now and he's about to kick our ass, not to mention come on the island himself to help—''

  Alex interrupted, "He's coming here?!"  Before waiting for a reply, Alex turned to Connor and said, "Suit me up, give me a gun and put me out in the battlefield; I've fought him before, beaten him every time.  I'll do it again if I have to."  Connor didn't move for a few seconds and then turned his head to the General, who said, "Hell, suit him up and go with him.  Also, if this other girl has fought him before, put her in a suit too."  Connor nodded and riposted, "Yes sir," then turned to Alex, "Follow me."  Connor took off running down a hallway; as they rounded a corner he said, "We're not gonna suit up Fidget," and Alex said, "I wouldn't've let you." 

  Connor laughed but as he did there was another explosion and both of them were slammed into a wall, "What the—they're bombing the island!  X is—,'' Connor was saying but another eruption of noise disrupted him.  They scrambled to their feet and rounded another corner and—Connor's shoulder slammed into someone's head, Alex barely dodging a running body.  "OW," came Fidget's voice from the floor.  Alex looked down at the person Connor had run into and would've laughed, but Fidget would probably hurt him, so instead he helped her up, saying, "It would help if you weren't so short."  

  Fidget flared up and was about to hit him but she looked at his face and…softened up…and, of course, he blew the moment, saying, "Alright, we gotta go."  

  Alex had just about run into Delia, who said, "What's happening?"  Alex let out an exasperated sigh but Connor replied, "We're under attack by the army has been killing everybody.  The best thing about it is that the army is actually an army of Neo-Humans that's led by someone she and Alex killed back in their time."    
  Delia's face was blank, so Connor said, "We're suiting up and going outside to fight.  X is coming to the island himself and—''

  "That **scumbag**," yelled Fidget, slamming her fist into her other hand.  Connor kept talking, "—Alex wants to fight him, which obviously means that he thinks he can beat him.  We have to hurry so—''

  "Wait a second," said Delia and Fidget at the same time, but Fidget kept going, "That means that we're not going."  Connor looked at her and said, "Yeah, no kidding—," Fidget punched him in the stomach and he just stood there, looking at her.  Delia spoke, "C'mon Fidget, they can't stop us if we go on our own."    
  Alex rolled his eyes and said, "Shit, we don't have for this; let's go **now**."  Connor agreed and they both took off down the hall; they knew they were being jerks but X was coming and he was a priority.  The girls watched them run away and Delia said, once they were out of sight, "There's several rooms with suits.  C'mon, we'll follow them once we suit up."

§

In another ten minutes, Connor and Alex were suited up and selecting guns.  The first layer of suits was a skin-tight black fabric that kept the body warm at all times, so that they could swim without worries of hypothermia; the second layer was the armor.  The armor was designed to fit any person, any size; for instance, you put a shin-guard over your shins and it automatically scans the leg and wraps magnets around your leg so that it helps repel bullets (not hardly at all but it has been proven that it lightens the chances of getting hit); the magnets are also attracted to the armor, to make sure that it can't come off until the person deactivates the magnets.  Armor covers most of the body but not all because it would limit the person's flexibility; the third layer is just the pack that is already attached to the armor that covers your backside; it's waterproof and you can put your gun in it so it doesn't get destroyed.

  Connor chose a sniper rifle equipped with an extra grenade launcher so he could give Alex cover as he ran around, looking for X and a back-up pistol that wasn't very powerful but could hold thirty small rounds that could easily kill someone.  Alex chose an automatic rifle that was easy to move around and not too awkward; his secondary was the same pistol as Connor's. 

  Once finished getting ready, Connor and Alex started running toward the nearest opening to the outside.  Alex took note of his surroundings, the most important one being…_why is it sill night?  They said we'd been out for thirty-two hours…how can it still be night?_

  The helmet had it's own frequency for communications and as they ran Connor said, "Our frequency is set just for you and me and the command center.  No one else knows we're going to be out there; the only way they'll know is our suits but often times people's adrenaline gets going that they just shoot at whatever they see…so be careful." 

  Alex could hear Connor's voice in his left ear; it was faintly muffled by static but Alex could easily hear what was said and he replied, "And watch the Neo-Humans.  They keep coming until it's impossible.  So don't ever consider one dead until he's blown apart."  

  "Gotcha," Connor replied, and then the General was suddenly speaking, "Alright you two, we've got four bogeys on the map; did you guys decide to bring some guests?"  Connor was about to say he didn't know what he was talking about but then came Delia's voice, "That would be me and Fidget, sir.  We decided the boys would need some help."

  "You girls get your sweet little asses back inside."  

  "Sorry, sir, but I believe that Connor and Alex will need cover."  

  "Are you disobeying orders, Delia Redden?"  There was a silence for a few seconds and she said, "Yes sir, I am."  The General replied, "Okay then, go give them some cover that'll be worth something and as for 'Fidget', I want you to give Delia cover.  I heard you can work grenades so perhaps you'll be worth something too.  Connor?"  

  "Sir?"  

  "The Neo-Humans made it past our first wave of defenses; the coastal defenses were already weak from the Chinese' first attack but if they keep going like they have been, our second wave will be gone in a few minutes.  Our soldiers are running out of ammo and our turrets are starting to overheat.  Keep moving and I'll keep talking."  Connor answered with a quick, "Yes sir," and then he and Alex stepped out the large metal doors and into the dark night that was constantly flashing with gunfire.  There was a hill and the war was on the other side and past the bottom of the hill was the shore; to the left of that was the small forest and to the right of the shore was a small mountain.

  The General kept going, "There's a transport that we can see on the radar that will be here in approximately six minutes at it's present speed and I'm guessing that that X bastard has a helluva lot of his Neo-Humans inside to protect him.  He's probably assuming that he's going to have our defense down by the time he gets here but let's give him hell and prove him wrong.  The missile sub we used yesterday ran out of ammo a few hours ago and is refueling and reloading right now…it won't be up for another twenty to twenty-five minutes because of damage; it's barely floating as it is."

  Connor grimaced and somehow managed a smile, replying with a stern, "Yes sir!  Alex, let's go spread the word to use explosives on the Neo-Humans."  They both took off running and, out of the corner of his eye, Connor saw two more suited people burst out of an exit a few hundred yards away.  "Delia, Fidget, what kind of guns do you have?"  They both replied, "The sniper ones with the grenades," and Fidget added with an evil laugh, "Haha, I have explosives."  They all laughed nervously and then Connor said, "Alright, you two go to the top of the hill and give us cover from there.  "Yes sir," replied Delia, her voice now serious and ready for the upcoming battle.  

  Alex and Connor sprinted up the hill and, for some reason, it wasn't as hard to, even though they had body armor.  Alex then remembered Connor and Blake talking about the suit helping you out. 

  _Holy shit_, thought Alex just as he realized something.  "General, have you guys fighting the whole time we've been out cold?"  The General's laugh replied, "Hehehe, that's right Mr. Mann.  While you were sleeping, we were dying."  Guilt stung Alex and, in reaction, he turned it to anger.  Now he truly wanted the Neo-Humans to die.  He felt his adrenaline beginning to pump through his body and he also knew that his AMP Factor was going to play a major role in the impending mêlée.  

  The second Alex and Connor appeared on top of the hill, bullets and small proton shots started lighting up the ground around them and one bullet hit Alex in the arm.  It stung horrible but in couple more seconds the pain was gone; his arm went numb for as long as the pain had lasted and then it felt just like before it had gotten shot…  "It's because the armor implants have anesthetics that take the pain away and the magnets repel the bullet easily after it stops," Connor suddenly said, then added, "I know, I just got shot too.  C'mon let's move."  Connor sprinted down to the trenches, Alex behind him; right before they reached the furrows, the General said, "Don't worry about telling our boys about the explosives against the Neo-Humans.  We already spread the word.  Things are about to get kinda bumpy."  

  Connor stood up and fired a shot at a Neo-Human, Alex taking a few shots too.  He could only hope that Fidget and Delia were safe…

  "YEE-HAHAHA," yelled Fidget as she launched more grenades high into the air; they landed on the beach and disintegrated three Neo-Humans.  

  …Alex held back a laugh and instead said, "Good shooting Fidget…Connor, have the woods been cleared of the Chinese snipers?"  Connor shrugged but the General replied, "We finally sent thirteen men into the area about twelve hours ago and three came back, saying they had killed all them sorry ass snipers."  Alex sat down in the trench, the numbers beginning to come together in his mind; it was the AMP Factor but not quite it's usual manner…the calculations going through his head weren't going to happen in a split second but for the next six minutes…  Alex looked at the shores and the woods, thought about the incoming transport with Dr. X, the men in the trenches…  Slowly, Alex drifted from the battle, his thoughts focusing on what he could do with his abilities and what could be done and about X and the battle…

  A distant voice began to awaken Alex from his trance…it kept saying the same thing over and over again and suddenly Alex was back in the heat of the battle, gunfire lighting the skies and the island.  "Alex," Connor yelled, vehemently shaking his shoulder.  Alex blinked and looked at Connor and simply said, "Follow me and do exactly as I say."  His voice was remote and cold sounding, and Connor nodded.  

  The General's voice entered his ear, "You have a plan, Mr. Mann?  I certainly hope you do because you've got a minute-and-a-half before X arrives with his reinforcements and judging from the battle, we won't be able to handle them."  

  Alex frowned; _I was out of it for that long…?_  Sounding cold but confident, Alex simply replied, "Let me control the troops, let me take command."  Alex didn't stop walking as he awaited the reply; he had a plan for any change of events.  He calculated nearly every major possibility and then what could happen after that one, and after that one; a whole tree of sequences was created in his mind and he was able to take whatever was thrown at him—except a bullet in the head.

  "Since we have nothing left to back us up, Mr. Mann, your wish is granted.  I hope you'll understand the importance that you don't fail…okay; you're patched into the whole network.  Everything you say, every soldier out there will here."

  Alex immediately took command, but didn't stray from his path.  He, with Connor following, continued to walk towards the woods without any hesitation as he spoke; "All troops, this is Alex Mann.  I've been given command of the army and I have a different strategy that I'm going to use to protect this island.  You're going to have to trust every word I say and do whatever I say, the second you hear it said.  Some of it might sound crazy, if not ultimately insane, but in the end, if everyone does their part, it'll be worth it."  Alex gave that a moment, then started giving orders, "Fidget, Delia, I want you bombard the shore with everything you have left, starting in fifteen seconds.  The second explosion light up the shore, I want everyone on the front line to jump and run back to the third trench—likewise for everyone in the second trench.  Everyone that is in the third trench right now, you'll run back to the main building and haul as much ammunition as you can in two minutes—five of you grab a bunch of explosives, wiring, and a detonator.  Once everyone is in the third trench, you'll give everyone that's running back to the building as much cover as possible."

  Almost the second he was finished, the shore began to light up with the grenades that Fidget and Delia had started launching; Alex started sprinting for the woods and made it without any problems, Connor close behind.  Alex ran for a few more precious seconds then jumped up a tree, surprised by how easily it was; the suit gave him strength he didn't need to worry about using…he quickly added that into his calculations.  Connor was in the tree closest to Alex, sniping Neo-Humans that had made it past the shore.  "All troops," Alex said, "don't waste ammo if you don't think you can hit a target's head; it's pointless to hit one of these freaks in any limp or the torso.  Only headshots."  

  Alex surveyed the battle from his tree, the calculations flying through his mind super fast.  The Neo-Humans kept coming out of the water and attacking the island.  In the distance, Alex could see the transport's vague shape coming into view…X was almost upon them, and when he was, Alex was sure all hell would break lose; X wasn't as careless as he was presenting himself.  Alex was convinced he had something up his sleeve that he couldn't calculate, couldn't comprehend.

  Alex looked back up at the top of the hill and saw the Fidget and Delia weren't shooting grenades as fast as they had been; they were probably running out of ammo and trying to spare it.  "Delia, run back and get as many grenades as you can for you and Fidget, and be back in less than minute."

  She breathlessly got out a, "Yes sir," and Alex from what Alex could see of her, she turned around and sprinted out of view.  Alex turned his view back to the shores.  The Neo-Humans were still coming and were getting close to the first trench.  If they took that, the chances of victory were very small, even with Alex's AMP Factor, and Alex knew it.  He started sniping as many as he could before glancing back at the huge transport.  It was getting closer, within three quarters of a mile.  Alex looked back up at the hill and saw people carrying boxes starting to appear over the hill, sprinting down to the third trench from the shore and dumping whatever they were carrying into it.

  Alex could hear the sub-commanders—he didn't know what they were called here in the future—quickly organizing everybody and the ammo to their best abilities.  Alex looked back at the carrier…half a mile…

  And then something Alex hadn't calculated happened.  Something that probably no one thought would happen in the past thirty-two hours…the gunfire slowly stopped in intensity, and then stopped completely.  Alex frowned and used the scope on his rifle to look at the shore…there were no Neo-Humans coming out of the water.  They had stopped coming…

  Now Alex Mann was sure that X had something planned, something that Alex couldn't predict…  He looked back at the transport and tried to calculate the distance…half a mile…Alex started to look away but then swerved his head back.  _Still half-a-mile?_  Alex focused his scope on a purple 'X' that was on the transport…it stayed the same size; it didn't get bigger, which meant the transport had stopped.  

  The General's voice came on, "Alex, we're getting a message from X—sending it to you now."  Alex was worried now…the General had addressed him as 'Mr. Mann' up until that point…something was wrong.  A small picture of X appeared in Alex's helmet, a picture of X before he took hold of Brandon's body.  The figure started talking, "The Remnants are on the verge of being conquered.  This will be the last and final time I ask of you to surrender—if you don't…it's quite obvious you're already defeated.  Look at your puny defense.  The first two trenches are empty of men and you have so few in the last dugout."

  Suddenly the face's calmness went to pure rage and X started yelling, "Can't you just DIE?!?!  I've promised you a better life, a better base, a better EVERYTHING in exchange for ONE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT!!!"  His face suddenly became its usual self again and the normal, tranquil voice of Dr. X said, "I await your reply…if you don't send a message in the next three minutes…you die."  It blinked out and Alex sighed.

  _Something's wrong with X…things aren't going as he planned or something…_  Knowing Alex wouldn't figure that out, he pursued other thoughts.  "He thinks our defenses are weaker than they are, which means he underestimates us," he said into the helmet.  The troops were all silent, waiting, watching the shore; most of them were ducking in the trench…there were probably only thirty of the two hundred visible from shore; no wonder X thought they were weak.  __

  Could I destroy the transport with a turret?  No…too much armor…it would probably only dent the it… 

  "When the transport hits the shore, I only want those of you that are already visible to shoot—I want all turrets and other gunfire not to fire a shot until I give the command.  The five of you that got the explosive stuff go up and **quickly** string up the first trench.  I want you in and out as fast as possible.  Go!  General, can I talk with you alone on the headset?"

  There was a small click and the General said, "Just you and the command room."

  "Okay, how much longer can I depend on those turrets?"  Silence for a couple of seconds, then, "About five to ten more minutes of shooting and they'll explode."  Alex frowned and said, "Can you pour any kind of cold water on them, or nitrogen or something?"

  "We've already been doing that and it's gotten to the point where it's not having an effect."

  Alex glowered and then said, angered, "Why don't you just blow up the damn TFP?"

  The General sighed and said, "Because it could cause a rip in time; we've already created one and by bringing you here, caused a stitch in it.  Things are different going from the future than going from the past…but destroying the TFP would certainly cause some kind of warp…  Now, if it comes down to destroying it or this 'X' character getting it, I'll gladly tell them to press the button, but until then, we can't take that chance."

  Silence…there wasn't a sound from the command room or from anybody…

  Alex looked back at the trenches; the explosive crew was just getting back to the third trench and picking up their guns.  These men were willing to die for a stupid science project…_amazing_, thought Alex, _never thought I'd be in the future, commanding a small army that is protecting something that could change the world if destroyed.  Never saw it coming…_

  A sudden noise filled his ears; it was a quiet _wwwhiiirrrrrr_, of motors and Alex looked to the transport to find it moving towards the island.  Alex closed his eyes and tried to ready himself for what he was planning to do…

  And then opened them to find the transport almost upon the island.  It looked like a huge APC from the ninety's, the front of it opening so quickly that it was barely seen moving…and the Neo-Humans rushed out, opening fire on the third trench, the third trench's thirty visible men firing back.  They surged forward, their numbers quickly into the hundreds and—

  "Fidget and Delia, open grenade fire, as much as you can, now.  Turrets will NOT fire until I give the command…" The Neo-Humans rushed the shore, trampling over the ones that tripped on a corpse.  The thirty men weren't holding them back hardly at all, and Alex said, "Stay as you are, stay as you are…trust me, people."  He was positive that doubt was creeping into their minds, especially every time they saw the army rushing the island.

  Alex could hear the General's heavy breathing and mutters; he caught a couple words, "crazy fool…about…retake command…" Alex hoped he wouldn't because they had to have hope for a few more seconds…

  The Neo-Humans took the first trench, pouring into it and attempting to take favorable position.  "Wait for it," Alex said, an almost-desperate edge in his voice, "wait for it…" The Neo-Humans were still pouring into it and Alex wanted it to be overflowing with Neo-Humans…  Another ten seconds and it was full of at least four hundred Neo-Humans, all crowded shoulder to shoulder, with more Neo-Humans stepping on them to get past the trench and blitz the second one.  "You thirty shooting, take out the ones that make it past the first trench, person with explosives, detonate on my mark…………now!"  The explosion lit up the night the sun for a few seconds; hundreds of Neo-Humans flew high into the air, screaming and squelching as they were burned or incinerated. 

  "Everyone in the third trench, open fire, open fire!"  …_And here we go_, Alex thought, then added, _as foretold, the hell has been unleashed_…and he took a deep breath…

§

Fidget and Delia had to lie down while doing their business due to a lot of gunfire in their direction; quite obviously, X considered them a threat and wanted them dead for his assault but it was of no avail, thanks to the brilliant technology of the armor.

  Although fear kept easing into her mind, Fidget was having a blast—literally—blowing up the Neo-Human army.  Delia had brought out over five hundred grenades and Fidget intended for them to use every last one of them; _man I wish I could film this_, she thought with glee as she fired another one.  She also kept glancing in Alex's direction, the tree on the edge of the woods; he was a surprisingly good commander, better than she thought he would be.  And he had some plan, that he was going through with.  So far, he was looking really good and Fidget knew Delia was impressed.  When the first trench lit up, she said to Delia with an all-too-Fidget roar, "HHHooow do ya' like my man now!?"  Delia just laughed and launched another one.

  Delia, on the other hand, was worried sick; Connor was awful quiet and she knew that she was patched into his headset because the list she accessed said she was…and he was very quiet.  Not like him, especially in mêlée…very quiet…  She was worried that he was dead and Alex either didn't notice or didn't have the time to say anything about it…or didn't want to say anything about it…  The thought of Connor hurt made her want to just drop the grenade launcher and run toward him, check on him and tell him she loved him…but she couldn't; she had to fight it, as well as fight the enemy army that was quickly engaging the island.

  The Neo-Humans were taking up positions in craters that the missile sub had left behind from the missiles and Delia was trying to hit those craters and take out the Neo-Humans that were in them; they were obviously serving as snipers and snipers were as much a threat to her as a grenade exploding next to her; especially if she was a feared target.  Delia also—

  "Oh no," Fidget said quietly, "What is he doing?"

  Delia looked at Fidget and then followed her gaze…to Alex, who had just dropped out of the tree he was in, Connor dropping a few seconds later.  _He's okay!_  …But the happy thought quickly went grim as she saw Alex start running towards the army of Neo-Humans…right toward the middle of the battle...

  Fidget started to get up but Delia held her back and said, "Keep shooting grenades…it's only thing we can do from here and we certainly can't get to them before they do anything stupid…we can only hope and shoot…"

  Fidget frowned the deepest frown Delia had ever seen, but then got back down and started shooting grenades as quickly as she could…so did Delia…

§

Despite knowing everybody could hear him, Alex said to Connor, "Don't follow me now; there's no way you can do what I can do, and there's no way you'd live by following me."  Connor stopped running and quietly asked, "Is that an order?"

  They stopped running and Alex nodded, "It is," then turned his attention to the army, "I want everybody to give everything they've got.  If you're out of ammo and have nothing left but a knife, I want you to fight off every monster that gets close enough for you to stab.  I want the turrets to start firing until they can't in fifteen seconds.  This…this IS IT," he finished with yell and could hear, even with gunfire and heavy armor on, the cheers of the men as they fought…

  Alex told Connor to go back to his tree and keep sniping and he did so…Alex went back to the forest and sneaked along the tree line.  The Neo-Humans were still flooding from the transport, but not as thick as they had been; Alex estimated that he had blown up probably a third of the hostiles just by that one stunt.  Now it was time for another stunt, one that would probably end his life but save the others.  

  But every idea he had was suddenly shattered when he saw a huge…tentacle?…come out of the transport, followed by another and another until there was a mass of some kind of tentacles or legs on the shores…then two tentacles suddenly shot high into the air, holding what appeared to be a human figure by the palms of his hands…  No…the tentacles looked like they were coming from the palms…

  _Gangrene?!_  He heard a psychotic laugh that confirmed his thoughts and tried to recover from the shock of seeing one of the last people he'd expected to see…  The vines began to spread and grow towards the first trench, which was now bigger thanks to the blast… Alex got over the shock of seeing Gangrene real quick and told the army to, "Focus **all** firepower on the Neo-Humans except for one turret and all snipers.  All snipers try to hit the guy that's being held up by the vines and I want the turret to hold back the vines from reaching the third trench.  If that turret goes out, I want another to take its duty."

  _Oh man…**now** hell is unleashed._  Even over the gunfire and the shouts and yells and screams, Alex could hear Gangrene's psychotic, almost-giggly laughter.  Alex raised his automatic rifle and tried to find Gangrene on the scope but Gangrene had moved, now moving all over the place, hardly stopping all…it was as if he knew the snipers had targeted him.  

  The Neo-Human army was progressing, ever so slowly up the shore, now making to the first trench again.  The mass of vines kept getting obliterated by the turret but it kept growing back in a few seconds…the scene of chaos was pure madness…and Alex couldn't help but wonder what he was going to do…  The adrenaline already flowing at unimaginable levels, Alex felt it coming and could only hope that it would lead him to a solution that might save them all…


	11. Death

Wasteland…

Part 2: The Future Chapter 11 Death 

The AMP Factor kicked in and the dark world became a tinted blue color, the numbers swirling around the transport, then moving onto Gangrene, and after him to the army of Neo-Humans that kept coming from the transport, the ocean, the soldiers in the third trench, the…he had it.

  With the suit's implants Alex was quicker able to sprint faster, and he did so, sprinting towards the sea that he was going to use to his advantage.  When he got deep enough to swim, he did so, and then swam to the transport; the transport was probably forty meters tall and a good football field long—who new how many people could in it? —And there were metal bars sticking out from a certain place on the outside of it that Alex knew were a ladder.  

  Another cherished minute and he was climbing the ladder as fast as he could, nearly flying up the side of the transport.  He reached the top and before he could look around, there was a blur of motion that caused Alex to react by moving his head to the right and somersaulting his way across the hull of the transport.  He jumped to his feet and turned to see a Neo-Human swerving its gun to shoot him—Alex shot forward and jumped into the air, his right foot kicked the gun from the Neo-Human's hand and, as he spun around, the other foot firmly planted itself in the Neo-Humans chest.  Alex hit the metal hull with a _clang_ and the Neo-Human fell off the edge.

  Alex then turned and continued sprinting towards the front of the transport; he could see the tips of a few of Gangrene's vines from where he was which meant Gangrene was probably within jumping distance.  Alex saw the edge of the hull and could see exactly where Gangrene was…and Alex didn't hesitate; he just jumped, pulling his rifle out of the waterproof pack on his back and firing it at Gangrene's figure.  His head jerked around and the second he saw the soldier flying at him, he laughed and swung a vine at him.

  Alex saw it coming and angled his body to catch it and slide down it.  He did so and fired the gun as slid down, hoping that one bullet would hit Gangrene…but Gangrene never stopped moving around.  Suddenly the vine began falling, plummeting toward the ground—a turret had destroyed part of it.  Alex grabbed the nearest one and swung himself around it, propelling him up into the air right toward Gangrene.

  The AMP Factor plan wasn't working but Alex was able to quickly estimate every action and reaction so he could play along as best he could.  Gangrene didn't see him coming and just before Alex hit him he said, "Snipers cease fire!" Gangrene must've heard his voice because he was starting to turn around as Alex crashed into him.  Alex used the rifle and severed the two vines coming from the palms of Gangrene's hands and all the vines fell to the ground, as well as Alex and Gangrene.

  "YOU," Gangrene screamed in surprise but Alex was way ahead of him, spinning himself around so Gangrene would break his fall.  Gangrene didn't have time to think before the ground's impact broke his back and Alex bounced off of him and rolled down the hill for a few yards.  "YOU," Gangrene kept yelling until Alex ruthlessly raised a rifle and sent a bullet into his head.

  The AMP Factor seemed to have stepped up a level; the whole time Alex had started running, it had been going and now, even though the adrenaline had slowed slightly, it kept flowing…

  Suddenly there was an impact on Alex's head and he fell forward, brutally hitting the ground.  He started to get up but was immediately trampled over and over again by the oncoming Neo-Humans; they didn't seem to notice that they were stepping on him as they surged forward.  Alex tried to reach for the gun he had dropped but his arm kept getting kicked away.  

  _My secondary_, he thought, and whipping out his pistol from the pack on his back.  Alex opened fire, swiftly killing every one of them that were in between him and his automatic rifle.  By the time Alex had reached the rifle, he had taken down twenty-six Neo-Humans and was out of ammo for his pistol; he got the rifle and went ballistic on the army, knowing there was no hope of getting away.  The Neo-Humans took notice of him and those that weren't getting shot all aimed their weapons at Alex and started firing.

  Alex saw them starting to raise their guns and dove to the left, firing as he flew in the air, even though he knew it was pointless…  Two bullets entered his system, getting past the armor and the magnets…Alex blinked from the sudden pain but kept firing until his gun started making the sound _clink, clink, clink_ every time he pulled the trigger.  Three more bullets hit him at the same time, and then nine more…and then the Neo-Humans left him alone and continued their endless march onto the island…

  Alex felt himself bleeding all over and tried to speak to the army, "Ho-hold them off…can't b-b-b-be too many left…"

 The ground shook as more grenades landed on the shore and Alex gave one last command, "General, was that missile sub is ready, put it into action; destroy the transport before X can come out and destroy the Neo-Humans from the sea…" Alex heard a faint reply but it was inaudible…

  The darkness of the night was beginning to dampen his vision, the black beginning to consume everything he could see.  He smiled, knowing he was going to die for a good cause, and only hoped that the Remnant's would survive and safely destroy the TFP…  Alex's eyes closed; he could hear voices saying his name, over and over again along with other words but all Alex could make out were his name…

  There was one voice…a particular voice that sounded not only familiar, but strangely good to hear…_Fidget_, he thought…  With the last of his fading strength, Alex said, "Fidget, I love you," and then let his head rest against the sand, his vision now gone and the voices completely erased from his mind…

§

Fidget was already screaming at Alex when she saw his figure running down and jumping into the ocean.  She was screaming all sorts of stuff; some making Delia want to laugh and others causing her to give Fidget a stone cold stare.  The most common word seemed to be 'lunatic' but that was just Delia's guess.  It was when Alex had swum out too far to be seen that Fidget really got quiet and worried; she kept launching grenades but Delia knew her mind was on Alex and only Alex.

  Suddenly Fidget yelled, "There he is, on top of the transport!"  Delia blinked and then looked…sure enough, there was somebody on top of the transport and Delia didn't doubt for a second that it was Alex—then the figure jumped off the transport and onto the tentacles.  Fidget had briefly tried to explain that there was a man that could control plants back in her time but Delia couldn't comprehend it.  Alex's command was heard loud and clear, "Snipers cease fire!"

  Fidget and Delia kept launching grenades, but were careful not to aim anywhere near Alex or the vine-guy—Fidget called him 'Gangrene' or something like that.  

  Alex was not only insane to do this…he was unbelievably brave and Fidget was complimenting him one second and then calling him an idiot the next.  Delia figured Fidget was just too worried to do anything but put a grenade into the launcher and pull the trigger.  

  And then the attitude changed dramatically.  The turret fired again and destroyed the mass of vines, causing Alex to start falling toward the ground—Fidget was screaming and cursing—then Alex was somehow flying back up toward 'Gangrene', his rifle firing non-stop.  Fidget and Delia both gasped and said, "Alex," at the same time when he crashed into Gangrene.  Then, for some reason, the two people began to fall and Delia couldn't tell one from the other until they hit the ground and Alex recoiled away…right into the middle of the Neo-Human army…

  That was when Fidget stopped firing grenades and Delia just held her breath.  She couldn't see Alex anywhere in the mass of Neo-Humans—not only was it too dark to make distinctively make out the shapes, the army kept running forward and taking Alex out of view…  A few seconds later, there was gunfire from right in the middle of the Neo-Humans and then rapid gunfire as Alex unleashed everything he had on the Neo-Human army…

  And a few seconds later came the cries of sudden pain and anguish, causing Delia to hold her breath and Fidget to simply stare blankly toward the Neo-Humans…Alex's voice came over the line, raspy and full of pain, "Ho-hold them off…can't b-b-b-be too many left…" Fidget cried out and started to get up but Delia held her back—Fidget would die if she started running down there—and Alex's voice came back again, this time distant, as if Alex was in a dreamy state, "General, was that missile sub is ready, put it into action; destroy the transport before X can come out and destroy the Neo-Humans from the sea…"

  The General's voice came back saying, "Will do, Mr. Mann…it looks like you've saved our asses…the world couldn't repay you enough…"

  Fidget looked as if she might vomit; the tears streaming down her face were tears that hadn't been spilled for a long time…  "Alex," she whispered, "Alex…don't die…please, you can't, not here…"

  Suddenly Alex's voice came back, clear and steady as if he was a-okay… "Fidget, I love you," and Delia heard Alex expel his last breath.  Fidget could do nothing but cry…she said his name over and over again, kept mumbling 'I love you' over and over again…

  But Delia, knowing she had to, left Fidget alone and continued launching grenades.  It was because of her and Fidget that the Neo-Humans hadn't reached the second trench and she intended to keep it that way.  _Grieve now and die, or grieve all we want later_.  

  "You're right," Fidget said, her voice surprisingly serene.  _Oh, _thought Delia, _accidentally said it out loud._

  Suddenly there was a huge bright light and Dr. X's voice could be heard in the headsets, "So you all have been very brave, and even had one renegade soldier that destroyed my second in command…you have proved a worthy enemy, but now, I'm afraid to see, it's time for you to be defeated." 

  The sound of hydraulics pushing something huge up could be heard over the battle and Delia could see something coming out of the top of the transport.  As she pulled out her binoculars, she heard the General suddenly yelling, "Focus all turret firepower on the top of the transport—NOW!"  Delia gasped when she saw what was happening; a huge cannon was being prepared to fire…not just any cannon.  It was a cannon that wasn't supposed to exist, only a rumor among the wastelands…

  It was called an Apoc Ion, short for Apocalyptic Ion Gun; its shots were forty feet wide and twenty feet long, firing what would look like a laser, but was actually nothing but ions that were so condensed that the second they touched any normal, microscopic cell that already had ions, they would flood the cell and cause it to explode.  It was a painful way to die, even if it only lasted for a few seconds…and it would destroy the island in less than a few minutes…  No doubt their intention was to destroy the third trench and leave it at that, so they wouldn't destroy the TFP that was somewhere on the island.  

  Delia threw the binoculars and kept firing grenades as fast as she could.  This was a turning point and even with the turrets firing at the Apoc, they would probably lose the battle; the Apoc was rumored to have armor so thick that the only way to destroy it was to send something like turret fire or grenade down the barrel of the cannon…and the volatile object had to be big, otherwise it wouldn't make any difference.  A normal grenade wouldn't work…

  The battle was hopeless.  They had lost; in probably one or two minutes the Apoc would fire and destroy the third trench, obliterating half of the men they had.  And if the rumors were right, it would only take a minute for it to be ready to fire again…

  It was over.

  Delia and Fidget kept firing but Delia knew it was hopeless…knew that nothing was going to work and that island was lost…  And if the TFP couldn't be safely destroyed, the world might be lost…

  Suddenly there was a huge explosion that rocked the island, causing everyone that was standing up to fall down or stumble from losing his or her balance.  Delia wanted cry out in pain for her friends, the ones that were had just died but when she looked up, she saw that the third trench hadn't lost any men at all.  Confused, she looked up at the transport and the Apoc, only to find that the Apoc was destroyed, a huge fire where it once had been. 

  The Neo-Humans stopped pouring from the transport and the soldiers kept firing, destroying every last one of them that was still on the shores and running up to the first trench.  Delia kept firing grenades and Fidget did too, still in shock at losing Alex.  

  Suddenly Delia could see two bright lights appear from the ocean surface, and the two bright lights—_missiles_, Delia realized—hit the transport, causing another small quake on the island.  "The missile sub," Delia cried out, half happy, half shocked.  _There's still HOPE!_  The missile sub kept firing until the transport exploded with a fierce shockwave that threw everyone off their feet and if they weren't already, rolling backwards from it.    The transport was now in shards strung out for hundreds of yards in the sea and the shore and the island.

  …And then Dr. X's voice came over the headsets, "Yes, you all have proven your valor.  I commend your skills of strategy and tactics…but there's one power you can't destroy, or overkill…and that's ME!" Suddenly there was another small quake and the sounds of trees being crushed and from the woods came Dr. X, with a group of Neo-Humans that numbered fourteen.  _How'd they get in there_, Delia thought, then realized, _where's CONNOR?!?!_

  The Neo-Humans were lined up with the third trench and started launching explosives into the third trench, anguished cries of soldiers filling Delia's ears as she re-aimed her grenade launcher.  She and Fidget fired at the same time and a few seconds later, the grenades hit, destroying the fifteen Neo-Humans and—, "What the hell was that," Fidget yelled, as if reading Delia's mind.  The grenades killed off the Neo-Humans but when the explosion got close to X, it stopped at a suddenly visible, light blue wall.  "He's gotta shield," Delia yelled, "And its **powerful**."  _Very powerful if it withstood that_, Delia mentally added. 

  The missile sub fired two missiles at X and they impacted the ground behind him; he cried out as the explosion propelled him from his position—apparently his shields weren't strong enough for missiles— impelling him through the air right toward…  Delia and Fidget dodged the old man as he crashed into the ground next to them.  When Delia looked back, she saw Dr. X's body, old and gray-skinned, unmoving as if dead…

  Delia got up and walked toward Dr. X; the silence was shocking—the battle was over and there were no sounds of gunfire, just her walking toward X.  She started to bend down when he suddenly moved with unbelievable speed, grappling her throat and squeezing, asphyxiating her before she could do anything to react.  "No," Delia heard Fidget cry, but it was too late.  "One wrong move and I break her neck," Dr. X said calmly, and then added, "I want a boat and a guarantee of safe passage away from this island."  Fidget dove at him, screaming but he grabbed her by the helmet and tossed her aside.  She hit the ground hard and went unconscious.

  The General's voice came through, loud and clear thanks to speakers from the main building.  "Dr. X, it seems your name is, do you really think that we care about one more lost life?  We could so easily overpower you and kill you.  Just surrender now and drop the girl."

  "HA," X replied.  "If you, Mr. General, didn't care about one last life, you would have everyone in your third trench attacking me by now."

  Silence…Delia was seeing spots in her eyesight and the world's colors were beginning to dim…she then saw the little red button on his suit and thought, _perhaps that's the shield's generator or something…_  And she swiftly kicked the button; the invisible blue shield suddenly went visible and then quickly faded—Delia looked at X just in time to his head suddenly fall apart, and she fell.  "Got him," came Connor's voice over the headset.  _Connor!_  

  Delia fell to the ground and pulled the dead man's hand away from her neck and ran to the woods, to be embraced by Connor—as much as you could embrace in armor…

  And Dr. X's corpse lay there, decapitated; the final sign the battle was finally over…


	12. Fabric

Wasteland…

Part 2: The Future Chapter 12 Fabric 

Three days since the battle had ended, and Fidget hadn't said a word; her usually fiery face was burnt out, leaving a depressed, mute replica of the old Fidget.  Delia couldn't say she wasn't worried, but she could say that Fidget was taking it a little too badly…_you can't just hide in a room all day and not say a word about anything…you can't just be a zombie…_

  But she was, and Delia decided that she would just let Fidget sit.  Eventually she would get restless and come out, and Delia was determined to wait until then.  

  Things were quiet on the island…they buried the dead, repaired the turrets, and started the factory up again because they were nearly completely out of ammo for all guns and vehicles…  To sum it up, everything went back to its normal routine; the biggest difference was all the long faces of those mourning the dead…and rumors spread like wildfire in a dry field.  Rumors that the TFP was going to be used again and that Delia and Connor were to try again.  Delia could only hope it was a rumor; she didn't want to go back in time, deal with all the mysteries and paradoxes of how the slightest thing you do could change the future.  She didn't want that and she didn't want to mess with it.

  Rumor also had it that Fidget was going to go back too, and if she were, she would have a lot of explaining to do.  Of course, Fidget didn't **have** to go back…it was really up to her, and her attitude on the whole thing…and now wasn't the time for an attitude check on Fidget.  

  The days eventually sped back up to their normal routine, and on the seventh day after the battle, the nursery released three boys and one girl to start going to the island's small school…which was one room for each division of children; elementary, middle school, and high school.  After that, they had a choice of being whatever they excelled at or wanted to be.  Most wanted to be soldiers, which was fine by the General as long as they got a couple scientists in every batch of newbies.  

  Everything seemed quiet…finally quiet…

§

_Alex, why did you leave me_, Fidget silently asked for the hundredth time that day, _why did you go off and do that stupid stunt?_  Of course, Fidget knew the answer, and knew that it was the right one…but Alex Mann not being with here anymore was taking a heavy toll on her, and no matter how hard she fought off the tears, they always came.

  Fidget sat up on the bed and looked around through blurry eyes; the room was dark and small, the tiny bed she was in was probably made for a ten-year-old…the room itself was seven by seven feet, _a small box_, Fidget thought.  Fidget got up and walked over to the window and pulled open the shades…the sun was shining…only it wasn't quite right…it seemed to be shining a more…pale-greenish kind of color.  _Strange_, thought Fidget, and somebody's voice said, "It's because of all the radiation in the area."

  Fidget jumped and whirled around to find Delia quietly closing the door.  "It reacts with the sun's radiation and causes it to change the color slightly."  Fidget raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh."

  Delia fought hard to hide her surprise at Fidget actually saying something.  "Fidget, they're going to send me and Connor back in time again, and they want to send you back too.  It's actually only a rumor but every time I ask the General, he just grunts and stalks off."  Delia paused and then said, "I've been doing some research on time travel and I've been analyzing the mathematics of it…if you're interested, I have some theories that I think you might take comfort in hearing."  Fidget turned around and looked at Delia for a short time…then shrugged and said, "Sure, whatever."  

  Delia had to fight to hide her emotions again, and just barely kept a straight face.  She had good news for Fidget…  "Fidget, the TFP committee has figured out a few things about time and they're going to hold a meeting with the General and the leaders of the island's divisions…you're invited because…well, a lot of the explanations involve you."

  That raised Fidget's eyebrows.  Clearing her throat, she sarcastically said, "So they want a lab rat?"  Delia hid her smile, replying with a simple, "No; they want you to hear what they have to say," she paused, and then added, "I'll be back in a couple hours.  Make sure you're looking good because…well, you'll find out."

  She left, leaving Fidget alone again, with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company…

§

The meeting was being held in a room that had a large, oval table in the middle and twenty chairs circled around it.  Delia guided Fidget to her appropriate position and sat next to her, patiently awaiting the start of the meeting; more people filtered in, some wearing Remnant military uniforms, others casual wear, and some with lab coats.  Once all twenty people were seated, the scientist at the head of the table stood up and said, "Thank you all for coming to this meeting.  We will be discussing the Time Frame Project's latest developments and discoveries, some of which are appalling and others things that you might've already known or guessed."

  Another scientist stood and said, "With the proper introductions out of the way, let's get right to the point.  Time is often described as fabric, a.k.a. the fabric of time.  Well, when we designed the TFP, we had this very concept in mind and it led us down the right path for the Project to become successful…but there have also been glitches.  Of course, the TFP is still an experiment so there's bound to be glitches, but the main ones are going to be discussed quite thoroughly, and hopefully in a manner that you can understand."

  Fidget stuffed a sigh that was coming and tried to listen, despite her rapidly depleting attention span.

  "All technicalities aside, we used the 'fabric of time' theory to create the TFP.  We manipulated matter a.k.a. fabric and created, bended and/or added strings to the fabric of time.  When we sent Connor, Delia, and Dare back into time, we pulled a string out of it's place and stitched it onto another spot in the fabric…fabric that had already been completed, thus causing the rest of the fabric to slightly alter.  Unfortunately the test mission's objectives were not met and really couldn't have been expected to be met.  The longer Connor and Delia were back in time though, the more the stitch seemed to tighten until it had no slack…and eventually popped out the place/time that we put it in and back to where he and her came from.  Unfortunately, they were too close to two other strings in the fabric of time, a.k.a. Alex Mann and Fidget Wilson." _How'd they get my last name_, Fidget wondered; ever since he mentioned Connor and Delia, her attention span had stopped leaving her and she was actually starting to focus on what was being said.

  "These two strings somehow got tied up as they came back with Connor and Delia, thus ending their journey through at Connor and Delia's landing point; our time.  When you travel back in time, the fabric in the future doesn't cease to exist because then Connor and Delia would, but they're obviously here with us today.  Apparently years pass in the few seconds it takes for them to get back and, despite they're influence in the past, their impact on the past wasn't even to stop the war.  Before I pass this on talk onto the next speaker, I would like to add that, on a minor note, this theory disproves the idea of Fate because Connor and Delia _did_ have an influence and _did_ change certain things, though none were big enough to change the world."

 The speaker sat down and another stood up, his voice rusty and gruff.  "No time, to those of us that didn't travel, no time passed.  The island was actually in the same exact position as it was when the TFP was running its first run with Connor and Delia; it was in the same exact position when they came back, but somehow they wound up in a different place.  Our guess is that their 'string' landed just shy of where it had been when we sent them away.  Naturally, Alex and Fidget came with our two time travelers."

  He paused, a quick, just barely noticeable glance at Fidget, and then continued with, "When Mr. Mann died—," Fidget squeaked, _…did I just squeak?…_, "his string was severed from Connor and Delia and snapped right back to he had been when they came back.  Fidget's string is slowly unwinding from Connor and Delia, and soon, _very_ soon, she's going to snap back to where she was when it happened.  We're assuming she'll remember everything that happened, the same way Connor and Delia do."  The man stopped talking, letting that sink in.

  "Of course, this is all hypothetical.  The calculations involved were analyzed many times but can't be guaranteed to be right…" He droned on about some other things but Fidget lost her interest.  _Delia's so full of it sometimes_, she thought bitterly.  Just as her thought ended, she tuned back in to here, "Ms. Wilson…Ms. Wilson?"  

  She looked up suddenly and mumbled an apologetic 'oh, sorry'.  The scientist nodded and said, "You need to be confined into a room after this meeting.  If our calculations are correct, you'll be going back to your time in less than an hour…and we don't anyone to be snapped back with you.  Or any_thing_," he added, almost to himself.  Fidget shrugged and the meeting was adjourned after a few more science muck and Fidget stood up and faced Delia, about to confront her but hesitated when she said, "I'll lead you to the room…"  

  They walked in silence through the base but Connor caught up eventually and the trio began to talk the typical chitchat that was awkward before a goodbye.  When they stopped at a door, Fidget turned to Delia, who said, "So this is it, huh?  The TFP failed and the war is still going…many people still died."  Fidget nodded silently but almost yelped when this strange, golden aura started to swirl around her body.  Her head reeled back in surprise and she reached out to touch it but felt nothing; Connor and Delia were still talking as if nothing was happening.  Then Fidget could see that the aura was spreading to Connor and Delia; they gasped out in surprise then turned to run when Fidget could feel something pulling…

  The golden aura flashed a great light and everything went black.

§

Fidget awoke to her nose gushing blood and a Neo-Human limping away.  She started move but was covered immediately covered in pain; she cried out and tried not to move.  She remembered this, she remembered where she was…and she looked at Alex Mann, covered in blood and unconscious.  Her pain was immediately forgotten as she crawled over to his limp body and tried to stop the bleeding with one hand and the other trying to stop her nose's onset of blood.

  In a few moments Delia showed up with Connor, who looked cut up in every place.  Delia gently asked, as she put Connor's body down beside Alex's, "Do you remember the…the future?"  Fidget only nodded and then Grinder's voice was suddenly heard, "Get out of the way so I can help, mates.  I can't do much good with you two in my way."  As hard as it was, Fidget stepped away from Alex's body and Delia did Connor's…and something of a hum filled her ears.  She stepped outside, doing her best to forget the pain that had returned.

  Delia had stepped out with her and looked into the sky to find the shape of a small plane flying high up in the air…then it started to descend.  Fidget was watching the Neo-Human limp away when suddenly there was a plan swooping down to its direction.  Delia and Fidget just watched as Dr. X, in his old, gray and rotting body stood up on his robotic legs; he stepped out of the plane and walked towards the Neo-Human with a needle in his hand.  He seemed oblivious to Delia and Fidget's existence.

  Fidget ran through the debris, searching for a weapon; she tripped on something and landed hard on the ground, looking through a small opening in between boxes to see…a spilled crate of M-16s on the other side.  She jumped to her feet, hollering Delia's name.  Delia came running and by the time she got there, Fidget had two of the rifles in her hands and two on their way down to Delia's open arms.  Delia caught them and sprinted towards an open area in which they could shoot Dr. X.  He had to go, no matter what…

  But when Fidget and Delia crawled through the debris-ridden area, when they had gotten close enough to Dr. X to hear his voice, they hesitated and listened.  "…Yes, Team X-treme has caused quite a problem haven't they?  If Alex Mann weren't so important a project of my past, I would've destroyed them by now.  Relax…I just need some of your blood and tissue…  You see I've lost all of you Neo-Humans that I've worked so hard to create…and all of the information on them.  I have it all memorized except for your DNA structuring…relax…and I need that to create a mega-army."  X must've been talking to the Neo-Human, which was now lying on the ground, breathing raspy breaths.

  Fidget didn't wait any longer.  That was the last surviving Neo-Human and the last chance of Dr. X rebuilding his army; she stood up, quickly took aim, and fired six shots into Dr. X's chest.  The bleeding Neo-Human roared and tried to get up but fell right back down because of its broken leg.  Fidget fired a shot at its head and the decapitated body went limp.

  Fidget looked up and saw Dr. X, lying on his back and blood seeping from his body.  His breathing was now a bunch of short, quick breaths; he was dying.  Fidget walked over to him and raised took aim when she suddenly thought, _Wait!  This could…if X started the war in the future, then killing him now would be the same as killing…Delia…and Connor…_  

  Delia must have already thought it through and said quietly, "It's true.  I've already done a lot of thinking on the subject and from what you two have told me about this guy, I'm sure that he's the one who started the War of the Wastelands…do it Fidget.  If I pull the trigger it could cause a paradox and destroy us all…" Fidget squeezed her eyes shut and kept thinking; _Sacrifices must be made…two lives for a hundreds of millions…you _have_ to do it…_

  "Wait," Delia said suddenly, "just…let me go tell Connor.  Kill him in a few minutes…" She ran off towards Connor, who was a hundred or so yards away.  Fidget heaved a sigh of relief, despite knowing that she was going to have to kill X soon.

  "So…you knew about…my…plans, did you," X breathed out.  Fidget jumped and fired a shot, which hit the dirt right next to X's head.  He shook with laughter and winced in pain at the same time.  "I wish I knew…the time was…coming…ever…so…slowly.  The drone was…already…starting his…career as a pol…politician…" X smiled as he said it, adding, "The next president of the United…United States" He shook with laughter again and coughed up a bit of blood.

  The look was nasty and Fidget tried not to look at the disgusting sight.  Dr. X kept talking though, "With the drone in place…I could use his…power to man…mani…manipul…ate the other…enemies and wash out…the world…  The Neo…Humans that you've…have fought…are just rough-drafts…the _real_ ones will…come when…the nukes…nukes go off…  But I guess they…won't now."  Suddenly his voice took an intensity that Fidget never even considered X had, "And you **foolish** insolents had to destroy everything that I had thought of, make me look like a fool!" The blood he kept choking up wasn't stopping him from talking.  "My own _project_ was my final downfall!  Ha!  It's ironic isn't it?  How pathetic—," he stopped as he started coughing again.  

  Fidget was so close to pulling the trigger that it made her nauseated.

§

Delia sprinted to Connor, ignoring any and all pains…she would soon cease to exist and her pain didn't matter anymore; as soon as she reached Connor's blood-soaked body, she noticed his eyes were open and Grinder saying, "…Here she is, mate…no worries…" 

  Delia grasped his hand, tears stinging her eyes as she saw how much pain he was.  His head sort of dropped to one side to look at her; there were tiny streams of dried and fresh blood across his face but Delia didn't care because there was too much to say and so little time to do it…

  "Connor, we've stopped the war.  We've done what the TFP was made to do…it'll happen in a couple of minutes."  His eyes widened and Delia kept talking, "But…in a couple of minutes…or a minute, or a few seconds, I don't know…Fidget's going to end it all and…" The tears flowed freely and Connor's face was unreadable…

  Delia didn't even know she was crying…all she knew was that she had to say it to him before they died…she might have already but it didn't matter…he had to know for sure before…  "Connor…I love you…" She silently cried, not even noticing Grinder working on Alex.  "Connor…I just wanted you to know—''

  With a painfully raised hand, Connor pushed a finger to her lips and gently squeezed her hand.  He understood how she felt, and he felt the same way…

  Delia slowly bent down, her eyes never leaving his until she kissed him, a gentle, soft kiss as he held her hand and told her that he loved her.  Her eyes never opened as the world around her began to fade away and blue lights swirled around her and Connor…  

  The kiss had lasted but a few seconds before there was a gunshot in the air and Delia and Connor quickly faded out of sight; Grinder was so focused on Alex that he didn't even notice they were gone until he looked back up.  He felt himself wanted to faint but ignored the feeling, knowing that all would be explained in due time…he just had to take care of his friend first…

§

Fidget pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through and out of Dr. X's head, silencing him forever.  It was over…finally…over…  

  The tears came and rolled down her cheeks as she stumbled and walked back to Alex and Grinder, her thoughts on her five and only five friends.  Now three…

§

A few months later, Alex had been nursed back to full health and Fidget was trying to explain why he wasn't dead.  She couldn't believe it when it actually hit her that Alex wasn't dead; then she remembered the talk about the strings of the fabric of time—his string simply popped back to the way it was, but with the memories…the memories would be a mystery no one could, hopefully never, solve.  

  Alex's string simply went back to where it was, as did Fidget's…

  Over the following months to come, Alex and Fidget dated and got closer to each other until, three years later (and much to Ricky's dismay), Alex proposed and Fidget accepted with a rather fiery remark, "Did it take you **that** **long** to figure out I loved you?"  And she slapped him…(Alex took that as a yes).  They were married and lived life to its fullest…

  But they never forgot about the two people that were willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of millions; the two people that sacrificed their love for each other to save millions that would never know of it.  They always remembered, and they always honored them…

The End 


End file.
